A London Doctor Is Accused Over Killings in Rwanda in 1994
Vincent Brown, a 65-year-old doctor once called Vincent Bajinya, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 22 September 2026 accused of ordering six killings in the first week of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Al Jazeera
He is the first person charged in Britain over that genocide. Prosecutors say he encouraged and directed violence in Kigali in early April 1994.
The charges have two parts. Brown faces one charge of conduct ancillary to genocide in Kigali in April 1994, which means helping or urging genocide, and six charges of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity, which means murder as part of a wider attack on civilians. The Crown Prosecution Service said the charges were brought under section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001, a British law that lets UK courts try such cases even when they happened abroad. Crown Prosecution Service
Prosecutors allege he ordered six killings in four days, including a young mother and her baby son. The genocide charge says he urged others to kill members of the Tutsi ethnic or racial group to destroy the group in whole or in part. Police said the case concerns the Rugenge district of Kigali in April 1994. Metropolitan Police
In court on Tuesday, Brown confirmed his name, date of birth and address. He did not enter a plea. Prosecutor Jane Stansfield said he was head of the Department of Family Health in Rwanda's National Office of Population when the genocide began.
Brown came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 1998 and lived in London. Police list him as of Islington. He changed his surname from Bajinya when he gained UK citizenship in 2004. He was first arrested in 2006. In 2017, a British court refused extradition to Rwanda for him and four other men.
The charges followed a seven-year investigation starting in September 2019. The Metropolitan Police War Crimes Team began after a formal request from the Government of Rwanda. Police said it involved many trips abroad and work with other countries. The CPS decided to charge after reviewing the evidence file.
Brown was arrested and charged on Monday, 21 September over alleged crimes in Rwanda in the 1990s. He was kept in custody to appear on Tuesday, 22 September. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring granted bail with 25,000 pounds security and sent the case to the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey. Brown must appear there on October 9. Frank Ferguson is Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division. Commander Helen Flanagan heads Counter Terrorism Policing London. Police said other investigations into other people in the UK over the Rwanda genocide are still ongoing.
The broader context here is about process. After extradition was refused in 2017, Britain could not send the case to Kigali and had to prepare a home trial instead, like a backup route using evidence gathered abroad. The October hearing will set plea and next steps, and it may shape how other files are handled at the Old Bailey.
