A British prosecutor on Tuesday charged a doctor with overseeing six killings during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Dr. Vincent Brown, formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, is charged with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. These allegations stem from events in April 1994, according to prosecutor Jane Stansfield.
Charges in Westminster Magistrates’ Court
Brown becomes the first person in the U.K. to be charged for involvement in the ethnic genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives. The charges follow a seven-year investigation by Metropolitan Police war crimes investigators, who began probing the case after the Rwandan government requested it in 2019. During a 2020 police interview, Brown denied any role in the killings. His legal team stated he seeks to clear his name and has consistently maintained his innocence.
He was released on 25,000-pound bail and ordered to appear next at London’s Central Criminal Court on Oct. 9. Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo described the prosecution as a long-overdue step toward justice. The allegations cover multiple days in April 1994, when Brown served as head of the family health department at the National Office of Population.
Read Also: How to promote a community fundraiser event online
The Victims and the Timeline
Brown led a group to a house in the Rugenge district of Kigali on April 8 and ordered the shootings of Dominique Mukurarinda, Immaculee Mukankusi and Gerase Rurangirwa, Stansfield said. Two days later, on April 10, he directed the killings of Charlotte Kamaguja and her infant son Olivier Tuyishime. He directed the group that stoned cabbie Leandre Mbogoye between April 9 and 11, authorities said.
Brown, originally from Kigali, has lived in London, where he previously worked for a charity aiding refugee nurses and midwives seeking employment in Britain. He reportedly arrived in the U.K. as an asylum-seeker in 1998, according to former Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, who spoke to the AP in 2006. Brown changed his name upon gaining British citizenship in 2004, his attorney noted at the time. Police confirmed they are still investigating other Rwandan genocide suspects residing in Britain. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counterterrorism policing, emphasized that the U.K. will not serve as a refuge for international criminals.