Doctor faces first UK genocide trial over 1994 Rwanda killings

Dr Vincent Brown, 65, will stand trial in London next autumn for alleged participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Brown, formerly Dr Vincent Bajinya, is accused of killing, directing or encouraging the deaths of Tutsi members, making him the first individual charged in Britain with a genocide offence.

London prosecutors said the case stems from a seven‑year investigation that linked Brown – a former head of Rwanda’s Family Health Department – to six murders that took place between 6 and 13 April 1994.

Defendant appeared via video from Belmarsh prison, where he is held on bail set at £100,000 and deemed not yet met. A magistrate has set a provisional trial to start 4 October 2027 for eight to twelve weeks and will handle a plea on 15 January.

Brown has denied the allegations and faces charges of conduct ancillary to genocide and to murder, an “ancillary” offence under the UK’s modern slavery and human rights laws.

In a statement, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC called the events “the most devastating wave of mass killing in modern history,” noting that 800,000 people – mainly Tutsi – were murdered over the 100‑day outbreak.

The trial will be heard in the Old Bailey, a panel of senior British judges recalling the global community’s call for justice in post‑world war crimes.