Kabayiza: American success story or mass murderer?

Amherst man denies homeland charges

By Dan Herbeck
The Buffalo News
Staff Reporter
August 02, 2009

Photo:
Benoit Kabayiza of Amherst is a refugee from Rwanda accused by his goverment of a 1994 genocide. He is seen with his pastor, Monsignor David Gallivan, at Holy Cross Church on Seventh Street in Buffalo.
Bill Wippert / Buffalo News

In America, Benoit Kabayiza is a success story -- a family man who came here as a refugee a decade ago, not knowing a word of English, but later graduating from two colleges before becoming an accountant.

But back in his homeland of Rwanda, government prosecutors portray him as a torturer and mass murderer and accuse him of being one of the leaders in the extermination of Tutsi tribe members during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, when 800,000 people were slain in 100 days.
"[Kabayiza] trained, indoctrinated, encouraged, provided criminal intelligence, transported and distributed arms" to mobs who murdered and raped the Tutsis, an indictment a Rwandan government prosecutor filed in 2007 read.

Interpol, the international police organization based in France, identifies Kabayiza as Ntawukuriryayo, a fugitive accused of genocide and war crimes.

Rwanda's government also alleges that Kabayiza's father -- a powerful government official in Rwanda at the time of the genocide -- orchestrated the murders of more than 25,000 Tutsis.
But friends and supporters of Kabayiza say they are convinced the charges are untrue. They also claim that Rwanda's government has political reasons for calling Kabayiza a genocide leader.

"We have every reason to believe that the charges against Benoit are false and politically motivated," said Mark J. Mahoney, a Buffalo attorney for Kabayiza. "Benoit is married to a Tutsi woman. He didn't kill Tutsis. During the genocide, he protected Tutsis from being murdered."
Mahoney insists the charges are bogus.

"The language of the indictment is boiler plate -- lifted practically word-for-word from other indictments," the attorney said. "There is no indication any of these charges are based on reliable evidence .‚.‚. There are allegations of [Kabayiza] being in several different places, many miles away from each other, at the same time."

Alison Des Forges, the world-renowned human rights researcher from Buffalo who died in the crash of Continental Connections Flight 3407, was investigating the case against Kabayiza at the time of her death.

"She was convinced that Rwanda's system of prosecution was very suspect and that Benoit is innocent," Mahoney said. "Alison was the one who asked me to become involved."

And no one has stronger feelings about Kabayiza's innocence than his wife, Thamar, and the couple's two nephews, Eric Dushime and Victor Habinshuti. They are Tutsis who swear that Kabayiza -- a member of the rival Hutu tribe -- saved their lives during the genocide.

"My uncle is my hero," Habinshuti said. "He married my auntie cq, a Tutsi woman. He risked his own life to save us. The [Rwandan] government is trying to say he was a killer of Tutsis .‚.‚. . It's not true, and it makes me sick."

For two years now, Rwanda's government has wanted to tear Kabayiza, 39, away from his comfortable and happy life in Amherst and take him back to his homeland to face genocide charges. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment. Rwanda has no death penalty.

So far, the United States government has refused to allow his extradition.

But a special unit of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement that investigates war crime and genocide allegations made by other governments against people now in the United States, along with federal prosecutors from Buffalo, has been probing the allegations against Kabayiza.

As part of those efforts, a Customs agent and U.S. Attorney-designate William J. Hochul Jr. quietly traveled to Rwanda earlier this year to question witnesses and government officials.
Sources close to the case said Customs agents also have questioned Rwandan refugees in Buffalo.
Hochul declined to comment on what they heard during the trip. Acting U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter would only confirm an investigation was under way into the accusations against Kabayiza.

If American authorities conclude that the charges against Kabayiza appear to be legitimate, they could allow him to be returned to Rwanda. Or they could charge him with genocide crimes under U.S. laws and prosecute him here.

Roger Des Forges said his late wife -- widely considered one of the world's leading experts on the genocide -- was providing information to Customs agents and Hochul. He said his wife believed the charges against Kabayiza were false.

Alison Des Forges was a senior adviser to Human Rights Watch, which has been critical of the genocide prosecutions conducted by Rwanda.

"Alison had profound doubts about the evidence," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

The Rwandan government -- now under the control of Tutsis and moderate Hutus -- has used genocide prosecutions "to punish and limit the activities" of its opponents, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

A tall, powerfully built man who is a devout Catholic, Kabayiza struggled to control his emotions when he talked about the accusations against him.

He spoke to a Buffalo News reporter for more than five hours in a series of interviews.
Kabayiza, who was a college student in Rwanda when the genocide began, said he feared for his life every day of the killings, because he was married to a Tutsi and was hiding and protecting members of her family.

Kabayiza said many of his close friends -- including many of the people who attended his wedding -- were killed in the genocide.

"I was in a very bad situation," Kabayiza said. "Extremist Hutus hated me, because I married a Tutsi. Tutsi rebels hated me, because they thought all Hutus were evil. If you hid Tutsis in your home, you had to accept the possibility that you would all be killed the minute [the mobs] found out."

Kabayiza is convinced the Rwandan government wants to imprison him and his father -- who is still in Rwanda -- so it can confiscate valuable land the family owns.

Monsignor David M. Gallivan, pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church on Buffalo's West Side, is a close family friend and another strong believer in Kabayiza's innocence.

"I believe these are false allegations," Gallivan said. "I believe he is a peaceful person with a deep spirituality."

An official at Rwanda's embassy in Washington said he is confident that both Kabayiza and his father are guilty of genocide crimes and ultimately will be convicted.

Politics have nothing to do with the prosecutions, said the official, Andrew Tusabe.

He denied Kabayiza's claims that he and his father were targeted because the government wants their land.

"That's a lie," the Rwandan official said. "People have committed crimes. They try to avoid justice by hiding in America and other countries. [Kabayiza] .‚.‚. will be tried in our country."
Rwanda's prosecutors are dedicated to truth and the principles of law, said.

According to Mahoney and Human Rights Watch, most people who go on trial in Rwanda for genocide crimes do not have attorneys represent them at the proceedings.

"It would take 100 years .‚.‚. if you're going to have lawyers for every individual," Tusabe said. "We had to think beyond the box to handle all the cases .‚.‚. hundreds of thousands of cases."
Tusabe would not discuss the evidence his government has on Kabayiza.

But Kabayiza told The News that one of the prosecution witnesses is a Rwandan man who lives in Buffalo.

The witness -- who came to Buffalo as a refugee and now is an American citizen -- spoke to a reporter on the condition that his name would not be published. He said he fears for his life if other Rwandans who live in the United States find out about his cooperation.

Interviewed in the kitchen of his small home, the witness said he could not discuss the evidence but insisted that he knew Kabayiza in Rwanda and is sure that he and his father took part in mass murder.

"Benoit knows what he did in Rwanda. Whatever he says about it, he knows," the witness said. "If he doesn't have to answer before it in the courts, he'll have to answer to God."

Kabayiza called the witness a liar and said the man has a long-standing grudge against him.
"He is jealous because I have made a success in this country," Kabayiza said. "He once told me, "Benoit, you live in Amherst now, but when I get done with you, you'll live on the East Side like me."

The witness denied ever making such a threat.

In researching the witness, a reporter found that he was convicted of welfare fraud in 2006, put on probation for five years and ordered to make $13,000 in restitution to Erie County.

In Kabayiza's view, that conviction raises questions about the witness' credibility.

"We were new to this country," the witness said. "I made a mistake. I didn't understand the welfare laws."

While many critics have questioned the prosecutions conducted by the Rwandan government, Kabayiza's father faces prosecution from a United Nations-controlled tribunal.

Dominique Ntawukulilyayo is currently on trial in Tanzania, before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. A former subprefect -- similar to a congressman -- in the Rwandan government, Ntawukulilyayo is accused of coordinating the murders of thousands of Tutsis, a charge he denies.

The most serious allegation is that he helped organize the slaughter of 25,000 Tutsis in an area called the Kubaye Hill. According to the tribunal, Tutsis were lured to the hill with the promise that they would be fed and protected from harm.

Prosecutors from the U.N. tribunal concluded their case against Kabayiza's father in May, and defense lawyers are to begin their case in September.

Kabayiza insists that his father has been accused by lying witnesses acting in behalf of the Rwanda government.

"The mobs who were doing the killing in Rwanda were out of my father's control," Kabayiza said. "He helped Tutsis get away and almost got killed twice himself."

Last December, a prosecutor from Rwanda showed up at Kabayiza's home with an NBC television news crew. Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard told The News that the NBC news crew and a Rwanda prosecutor contacted him and wanted Kabayiza arrested.

"I checked with [a Customs official] and found that this was already a matter under federal investigation .‚.‚. so we stayed out of it," Howard said.

It could take months, or even years, before the U.S. government decides what it will do about Kabayiza.

Ann Brittain, director of refugee assistance for Catholic Charities in Buffalo, declined to comment on the allegations, but she said she knows and admires Kabayiza and his family.

"These are people who have worked their butts off since coming to America, and their accomplishments are amazing," she said.

Brittain spent two years in Rwanda before the genocide, and she has spoken to many people who were in Rwanda when the atrocities took place.

"Some of the things people told me are so horrific, I'd never repeat them to anyone," she said.
According to Brittain, Rwandans she has spoken with have "little confidence" in the Rwanda government's prosecutions.

"The people responsible should be punished, but there have been so many false accusations," Brittain said. "You'd almost need the wisdom of Solomon to sort it all out."

Contact the author at "dherbeck@buffnews.com "

Related Materials:
Bitter opposition to extradition of Genocide suspect

Confronting Evil: Genocide in Rwanda (Video featuring Alison Des Forges)

Response to The New Times Article on Rwandan Genocide

R.I.P. Alison Des Forges

Civilian Plane Shoot-Downs and International (In)Justice; From 007 to Rwanda