London trial over Rwandan genocide to begin in 2027 — BBC News

The start of the trial of 65-year-old doctor Vincent Brown has been provisionally scheduled for October 4, 2027, at London's Old Bailey criminal court. He is accused of crimes connected to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, BBC News reports.

Charges in the case

Brown, formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, is the first person in the United Kingdom to be charged in a case connected to the Rwandan genocide. He lives in the Islington area of north London.

He faces one count of aiding and abetting genocide and six counts of aiding and abetting murder as crimes against humanity. Investigators allege that Brown may have killed, directed or encouraged the killing of members of the Tutsi ethnic group.

According to the prosecution, he was involved in six killings between April 6 and 13, 1994. Brown denies wrongdoing and said he would not enter a guilty plea, though he has not yet formally entered a plea.

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Course of the hearings

At a pre-trial hearing, Judge Cheema-Grubb estimated that the trial would last between eight and 12 weeks. The next hearing on the plea and case management has been scheduled for January 15.

Brown joined the hearing via video link from Belmarsh prison. The court also heard that a £100,000 bail condition imposed earlier in October has still not been met.

During the Rwandan genocide, which lasted 100 days in 1994, an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed. Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones described those events as the most devastating wave of mass killings in modern history.