A Rwandan man, who has been living in north London, has become the first person to be charged in the UK with offenses relating to Rwanda’s genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said. Dr Vincent Brown, formerly Dr Vincent Bajinya, 65, has been charged with one offense of conduct accessory to genocide and six offenses of conduct accessory to murder as a crime against humanity. Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counterterrorism Branch, said Brown “allegedly directed and incited acts of murder and genocide carried out by others.” Brown will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. Ferguson said the decision to charge Brown was made “after reviewing a file of evidence submitted by the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Team.” “We concluded that our legal test for bringing criminal charges had been met,” he added. The War Crimes Team began its investigation in September 2019 after a formal request from the Rwandan government to investigate people allegedly involved in a genocide in the Rugenge district of Kigali in April 1994. The Metropolitan Police said the charges follow “a complex and extensive seven-year investigation”. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of London’s Counter-Terrorism Police, said: “This case shows that the UK is not a safe haven for people suspected of having committed international crimes.” Crimes are held accountable through due process of law. “Further investigations into other people in the UK for similar crimes relating to the genocide in Rwanda remain ongoing.”
