Man sentenced ‘fraudulently obtaining U.S. Citizenship’ after entering Georgia in 2001, USDOJ says

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — An Ethiopian man living in Snellville was convicted of fraudulently gaining U.S. Citizenship after lying to immigration authorities. He was sentenced Wednesday, according to federal officials.

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office said Mezemr Abebe Belayneh, 67, entered the U.S. in 2001.

Before that, he lived in Ethiopia where justice officials say he was involved in a “campaign of oppression and mass killings” which started in 1976, called the Red Terror.

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While in Ethiopia, Belayneh is said to have “violently beat political opponents,” then lied about it to U.S. immigration officials. As a result of his “deception, he unlawfully entered this country and obtained U.S. citizenship,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said Belayneh’s actions in Ethiopia included abusing teenagers, actions which he later concealed while coming to the United States. He later became a naturalized citizen in 2008, according to the Justice Department.

Belayneh served as a civilian interrogator during the Red Terror, according to the USDOJ. Officials said he worked at a makeshift prison called Menafesha in Dilla, Ethiopia.

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While working as an interrogator, “detained teenage victims in a crowded prison for weeks and months, interrogated them about their political beliefs, and directed and participated in severe beatings in which they were whipped or hit with sticks.”

USDOJ said he also forced prisoners to fight each other to amuse the prison guards.

A Snellville resident, Belayneh was convicted of fraudulently obtaining citizenship in July 2023, following an arrest related to a Homeland Security investigation, according to officials.

“When a person attempts to become a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it jeopardizes our naturalization process and we will not stand idly by for war criminals and human rights violators to use our nation as a safe haven,” Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger of Homeland Security Investigations said. “Simply put, those who knowingly and willfully misrepresent themselves to obtain U.S. citizenship status will be held accountable for their deceitful actions.”

A jury found Belayneh guilty of one count of procuring citizenship contrary to law and one count of procuring citizenship to which he was not entitled.

“Belayneh obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing from immigration authorities the abuse he inflicted on teenagers in Ethiopia during the Red Terror in the late 1970s,” Buchanan said. “We hope that today’s sentencing brings a measure of peace and closure to the defendant’s courageous victims—some of whom testified at trial—and sends a clear message to others that we will continue to investigate and prosecute human rights abusers who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship.”

Justice officials said Belayneh was sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

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