London doctor charged in UK’s first Rwanda genocide case
Dr Vincent Brown, 65, who was formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, is originally from Kigali in Rwanda, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
A doctor living in Islington, north London, has been charged in the first UK case over the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Crown Prosecution Service announced on 21 September 2026.
Dr Vincent Brown, 65, formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, faces one charge of conduct ancillary to genocide and six charges of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity.
The offences are alleged to have been committed in Rwanda in April 1994 and are contrary to section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.
Section 52 is headed “Conduct ancillary to genocide, etc. committed outside jurisdiction” and makes it an offence under the law of England and Wales to engage in conduct ancillary to an act that would be genocide or a crime against humanity if it were committed in England or Wales. It applies where the conduct was committed in England or Wales, or outside the United Kingdom by a United Kingdom national or resident.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said the charges relate to allegations that Brown “took part in the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.”
Brown is alleged to have “directed and incited acts of murder and genocide carried out by others”, Ferguson added.
Ferguson said the decision followed a review of a file of evidence submitted by the War Crimes Team at the Metropolitan Police, and that the CPS’s legal test for bringing criminal charges had been met.
The CPS makes prosecution decisions “independently of police and government, on the evidence available and in accordance with the law”.
Criminal proceedings against Brown are now active.
The defendant has the right to a fair trial, Ferguson said, and it is “extremely important” that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online that could prejudice the proceedings.
Brown is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 22 September 2026.