UK Charges Dr Vincent Brown, 65, With 7 Rwanda Genocide-Related Offences

Q: After over 30 years, what finally triggered the UK's first-ever charges linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide?

What triggered the case was a new evidential file from the Metropolitan Police’s war crimes team, which the Crown Prosecution Service said gave prosecutors enough admissible evidence to meet the legal test for charging Dr Vincent Brown. The CPS said Brown is accused of having “directed and incited” acts of murder and genocide by others during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. After reviewing the police file, prosecutors decided there was a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution was in the public interest. That charging decision, rather than any single new public revelation, is what finally led to the UK’s first genocide-related case linked to Rwanda. The long delay reflects legal and practical barriers that have dogged Rwanda cases in Britain for years. Brown, formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, had previously been among suspects whose extradition to Rwanda was blocked by UK courts, and genocide-era crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute decades later because witnesses, records and crime-scene evidence are spread across borders and time. The breakthrough appears to have come through domestic prosecution under section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001, using UK war-crimes powers rather than extradition. That fits a wider European trend, with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands increasingly using universal-jurisdiction-style tools to pursue alleged Rwanda genocide suspects many years after the events.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 21

Dr Vincent Brown, a Rwandan man living in north London, was charged with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the case marks the first time the UK has brought charges linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Brown, formerly known as Dr Vincent Bajinya, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
The charges relate to alleged involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, a landmark step in a case the UK authorities are still detailing.