The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) brought charges against a Rwandan official on Tuesday in relation to crimes committed against the Tutsi during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
Dr. Vincent Brown, formerly known as Dr. Vincent Bajinya, was the head of the Department of Family Health within Rwanda’s National Office of Population at the start of the genocide. According to the CPS, in April 1994 Brown supervised, directed and incited “acts of murder and genocide carried out by others.” The case was heard before the Westminster Magistrates Court where prosecutors cited six murders allegedly ordered by Brown “during four days of violence in Kigali.”
In a press release, the CPS announced that Brown was charged with “one offence of conduct ancillary to genocide and six offences of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.”
The International Criminal Court Act outlines the rules for prosecuting an act committed outside of the jurisdiction, stating:
(1) It is an offence against the law of England and Wales for a person to engage in conduct ancillary to an act to which this section applies.
(2) This section applies to an act that if committed in England or Wales would constitute –
(a) an offence under section 51 (genocide, crime against humanity or war crime), or
(b) an offence under this section,
but which, being committed (or intended to be committed) outside England and Wales, does not constitute such an offence.
Dr. Brown has since resided in Islington, North London, for more than 20 years. The CPS decided to pursue charges after reviewing evidence provided by the UK Metropolitan Police War Crimes Team, following a 7-year investigation. In a statement, Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said:
To secure the first-ever UK charges related to a genocide has involved a huge amount of work and determination from the officers in the War Crimes Team. This case demonstrates the UK is not a safe haven for individuals suspected of committing international crimes.
Commander Flanagan also stated that there are a number of ongoing investigations “into other individuals in the UK for similar offences related to the genocide in Rwanda.”
The Rwandan genocide took place over the course of April to July 1994, during which Hutu extremists planned to kill the Tutsi population and anyone who opposed the genocide, including Hutu moderates. More than 800,000 civilians were killed, and 2,000,000 Rwandans fled and were displaced.
This is the first time that charges relating to the genocide in Rwanda have been brought in the UK. However, other countries have pursued charges in relation to the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda. In July 2023, the Paris Assize Court in France sentenced Philippe Hategekimana to life in prison over his roles in the Nyabubare Hill and Nyamure Hill massacres that took the lives of thousands of Tutsi refugees in 1994. In August 2026, the Netherlands sentenced a Dutch man to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide.
Head of CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, Frank Ferguson, emphasized the importance of Dr. Brown’s right to a fair trial now that criminal proceedings against him are active, and cautioned against anything that may prejudice his right.
Dr. Brown denied his involvement in the genocide, and told the court that he “left Kigali in mid-April 1998”. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 9 October 2026.
