She sought political asylum in the United States where she successfully applied citing persecution in her home country.
The event that triggered the start of the Tutsi genocide was the assassination of the Rwandan president when his plane was shot down on 6 April 1994.
Her husband and others were found guilty of killing refugees, orphans and patients from the local hospital and of taking Tutsi prisoners and arranging for them to be executed.
[2] Munyenyezi herself commanded the roadblock where she inspected the identity cards of those who wished to pass and singled out those who were Tutsi, whom she took aside to be killed.
[2] In 1998 she and her three daughters settled in Manchester, New Hampshire after she was given political asylum based on her testimony that she was being persecuted in her home country.
However, witnesses at both trials accused her of atrocities, including ordering militia members to commit rape and rewarding them with food and beer.
[9] Following her arrival in Rwanda on 16 April, Munyenyezi was handed over to local authorities to stand trial for crimes committed during the genocide.