UK prosecutors charge first person for Rwanda genocide

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and The Associated Press. Published On 21 Sep 202621 Sep 2026.

Key points

• He is believed to have entered the UK as an asylum seeker in 1998, former Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama informed the Associated Press news agency in 2006.
• The Rwandan genocide saw an estimated 800, 000 individuals, mostly Tutsis, killed in 100 days of slaughter.
• Prosecutors have brought the first-ever charges in the United Kingdom against a man for his alleged role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
• The doctor changed his name when granted UK citizenship in 2004, attorney Philip Eldin-Taylor remarked at the time.
• His extradition to Rwanda, along with four other men, was refused by a UK court in 2017.

After a seven-year investigation, Vincent Brown, a 65-year-old doctor who was formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, was arrested and charged on Monday with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six offences of aiding crimes against humanity in Rwanda, prosecutors and local authorities remarked.

"The charges relate to allegations that Dr Brown took part in the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, " Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's counterterror division, remarked in an official note. "He is alleged to have directed and incited acts of murder and genocide carried out by others."

"This is the first time charges relating to the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda have been brought in the United Kingdom, " the statement continued.

Brown was first arrested in 2006. His extradition to Rwanda, along with four other men, was refused by a UK court in 2017. Metropolitan police war crimes investigators then began looking into the case in 2019 at the request of the Rwandan administration. A number of other countries have already prosecuted suspects in the Rwandan genocide.

Originally from Kigali, Brown lives in London, where he once worked for a charity assisting refugee nurses and midwives seeking work in Britain.

Meanwhile, the doctor changed his name when granted UK citizenship in 2004, attorney Philip Eldin-Taylor remarked at the time. Brown is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Police remarked they are continuing to investigate a number of other Rwandan genocide suspects living in Britain.

"This case demonstrates the UK is not a safe haven for individuals suspected of committing international crimes, " Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counterterror policing, remarked.

Meanwhile, the Rwandan genocide saw an estimated 800, 000 individuals, mostly Tutsis, killed in 100 days of slaughter.

For now, UK prosecutors charge first person for Rwanda genocide remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.