DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — It's easy to imagine Oswald Rukemuye as a young man 14 years ago presiding over about 500 students as the head master of a Rwandan elementary school.

It's much harder to picture Rukemuye, who has lived peacefully in the Dayton area since 1996, as the ruthless leader of a Hutu militia implicated in uncounted deaths.

The Rwandan government and a non-governmental organization that investigates genocide and other human rights abuses say Oswald Rukemuye was known as Oswald Rurangwa in Rwanda, and he recruited and led a group of Hutu killers during the 1994 genocide.

Africa Rights, the non-governmental organization, issued a report in April quoting 20 witnesses linking Rukemuye to massacres near his home town of Gisozi. The Rwandan government said Rukemuye was tried in absentia in one of the country's traditional courts and was sentenced to 30 years for his alleged crimes.

"It's a ridiculous lie," Rukemuye said. Rukemuye, who is Hutu, said he and his pregnant wife, a Tutsi, had to flee their village 11 days after the genocide began. Rukemuye claims the Rwandan government is targeting him because he is a refugee in America who has spoken out against Rwanda's current ruling regime.

"They want to divide us, to keep us weak," Rukemuye said. "They want us not to be stable."