Rwandan man charged in UK with genocide offenses appears in court
Prosecutor Jane Stansfield said Vincent Brown was head of the Department of Family Health within Rwanda's National Office of Population when the genocide began.
Vincent Brown, a former high-ranking official from Rwanda, made his first court appearance in London on Tuesday, charged with genocide-related offenses. The 65-year-old, originally named Vincent Bajinya, faces two main charges: encouraging the massacre of Tutsis and ordering six murders during the first week of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. If convicted, Brown would be the first individual to face prosecution in Britain for the genocide, which claimed over 800,000 lives in just 100 days.
Brown's alleged involvement began on April 6, 1994, when the plane carrying Rwanda's president, Juvenal Habyarimana, and Burundi's president, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was struck by a rocket. Brown was in charge of the Department of Family Health within Rwanda's National Office of Population at the time of the genocide. Prosecutors stated that witnesses, including his neighbors, testified that Brown was the leader and overseer of violent acts committed by others during the outbreak of the genocide.
In total, Brown is facing seven counts of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. The prosecution alleges that Brown was responsible for orchestrating a series of violent acts that led to the deaths of several individuals, including a young mother and her infant son. Brown appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where the charges were formally read against him.
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