Rwandan Genocide UK Trial Begins as Former Official Charged in London Over 1994 Killings
Last update: September 22, 2026
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After more than 30 years, Britain has finally charged someone over the Rwandan genocide, and the details are harrowing.
On Tuesday, September 22, Vincent Brown, previously known as Vincent Bajinya, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. He is 65 and is the first person ever to be charged in Britain in connection with the 1994 genocide.
Prosecutors say he was head of the Department of Family Health inside Rwanda's National Office of Population when the killings started in Kigali between April 6 and 13, 1994.
That was the first week after President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down, an event that triggered 100 days of slaughter in which over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered.
The Crown alleges he encouraged the massacre of Tutsis and ordered six killings in just four days. Witnesses, including his own neighbours, claim he was the leader and supervisor of violence carried out by others.
One of the alleged victims was a young mother and her baby son, a reminder that this was not just political; it was neighbours turning on neighbours, families wiped out.
Brown has lived in the UK for over two decades and has always denied involvement, saying he left Kigali in mid April 1994 and his family followed that July.
For survivors and families who settled in Britain, this case is about accountability that has felt out of reach. It also tests whether British courts can prosecute historic international crimes that were organised thousands of miles away.
The charges are for conduct ancillary to genocide and conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. In simple terms, it means he is accused of ordering and encouraging rather than physically carrying out the killings. The behaviour described is chilling. Under UK law, that still counts as a serious international crime.
His lawyer Sam Blom Cooper says Brown welcomes the charge as a chance to clear his name, calling the 1994 murders appalling. Judge Paul Goldspring granted bail with a security payment.
Brown will appear at the Old Bailey on October 9. British police say their War Crimes Team is still investigating six others, with two more men already arrested.
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