For more than two decades, the name Vincent Bajinya has featured in one of the longest-running legal stories involving Rwandan fugitives wanted for their role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
A medical doctor and former public official, Bajinya, 74, fled the country after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and settled in Britain. He built a new life and changed his name to Vincent Brown and he had been living in north London.
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Until Monday, September 21, Bajinya was one of five Genocide suspects living the UK. He became the first person to be charged with offences related to the Genocide against the Tutsi by UK prosecution. He is expected to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
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The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charged Bajinya with one offence of conduct ancillary to genocide and six offences of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity, under Section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.
From medical doctor to public official
Available information indicates that Bajinya was born on February 28, 1952 in Kigombe cell, Karago Commune, in the former Prefecture of Gisenyi now Nyabihu district, Western Province.
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He studied medicine and later worked as a physician at King Faisal Hospital in Kigali. He also worked with the former Office national de la population (ONAPO), an institution responsible for family-planning programmes.
In the years leading up to the Genocide, Bajinya was based in Kigali and, according to allegations presented in previous legal proceedings, he became associated with activities in the Rugenge area of the capital.
He is accused of organising and directing activities linked to the killing of Tutsi during the Genocide, including allegedly organising meetings and supervising roadblocks where killings took place.
Bajinya's escape to Britain
Following the Genocide, Bajinya fled Rwanda with his family, first to Goma in eastern DR Congo (then Zaire) and later to Kenya.
He finally arrived in the UK around 1999-2000. By then, his name had already appeared among people suspected of involvement in the Genocide against the Tutsi.
In Britain, Bajinya was unable to continue practice as a medical doctor. He instead became involved in work supporting refugees and worked with the charity Praxis.
In 2004, he changed his name from Vincent Bajinya to Vincent Brown. The change of identity later became part of the legal proceedings surrounding his case.
The allegations against him came into wider public view in 2006 after the BBC programme Inside Out reported on his alleged links to the Genocide against the Tutsi.
UK police subsequently arrested him, alongside other Rwandan suspects.
Two failed extradition attempts
Bajinya’s legal battle in Britain has been a lengthy one.
In 2008, a Westminster magistrate ordered his extradition to Rwanda together with three other suspects. However, the decision was overturned by the Divisional Court in 2009 after the court found that the men faced a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice if returned to Rwanda.
The case did not end there.
Bajinya and four other Rwandan suspects were arrested again in 2013 after Kigali renewed its extradition request to the UK government.
In December 2015, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court again refused extradition. The decision was upheld by the High Court in 2017. The court noted that the allegations should ultimately be tested in a court of law, while the extradition request could not proceed because of concerns over a fair trial in Rwanda.
The 2017 proceedings also became an important turning point. UK legislation had by then created a legal basis for genocide and war crimes committed abroad to be prosecuted in Britain.
From extradition to prosecution
Following the failed extradition proceedings, attention increasingly shifted towards whether Bajinya and the other Genocide suspects could instead face justice in the UK.
The Metropolitan Police's War Crimes Team began a new investigation in September 2019 following a request from the Rwandan government.
Investigators travelled to Rwanda, interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence over several years.
The CPS has now confirmed that the evidence submitted by the Metropolitan Police was reviewed and that prosecutors concluded the legal test for bringing criminal charges had been met.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said the charges against Bajinya followed an assessment of the evidence and stressed that the proceedings are now active.
The Metropolitan Police described the investigation as a "complex and extensive” seven-year inquiry. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said Bajinya's case demonstrated that the UK is not a safe haven for individuals suspected of international crimes.
The Rwandan government welcome UK's decision to charge Bajinya with Genocide.
Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo said the case should be the beginning of the trials of the other Genocide fugitives living in the UK.
"This step towards accountability is long overdue, after two decades of legal proceedings, followed by a seven-year investigation," Makolo said in a statement sent to The New Times.
"We urge the UK to expedite the remaining cases of the suspects of crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda."