Judge imposes £100,000 bail condition on Rwanda genocide accused

A man accused of offences relating to the 1994 Rwanda genocide will remain in custody unless he pays the court a £100,000 guarantee.

Dr Vincent Brown, formerly Dr Vincent Bajinya, 65, was allegedly a “leader” or “supervisor” of violent acts carried out by others and is the first person in the UK to be charged over the genocide.

At the Old Bailey on Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC granted conditional bail with stricter conditions than at a previous hearing, including the increased surety and electronic monitoring.

Brown is accused of “killing, directing or encouraging” the deaths of members of the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda. He denies wrongdoing.

Three members of the same house were allegedly murdered, along with a taxi driver, a mother and her young son between April 6 and 13.

The alleged victims were Dominique Mukurarinda, Immaculee Mukankusi, Gerasi Rurangirwa, Leandre Mbogoye, Charlotte Kamaguja and Olivier Tuyishime.

Brown, of Islington, north London, was charged following a seven-year British investigation into the killings.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 Rwanda genocide which lasted for 100 days.

On Wednesday the judge imposed a £100,000 bail condition on Brown’s release. This is up from an earlier £25,000 security imposed by magistrates.

Brown was also ordered to surrender his passport and any national identity cards, not to apply for international travel documents and was told he must abide by a curfew to live and sleep at his London address.

He would also be electronically monitored and have to report daily to police.

Lucraft said that until the £100,000 condition was met, the defendant would remain in custody.

Brown is a medical doctor who qualified in Rwanda in the 1980s. He later became head of the country’s Department of Family Health in Kigali and lived in a suburb there with his wife and young son.

In 2006 he was worked at Praxis, a London-based charity which helps refugees from places like Rwanda.

He has also served on the Refugee Nurses Task Force, which was set up in 2003 to advise the UK government.

Brown is next due to appear at the Old Bailey on 9 October.

Inquiries continue into other alleged genocide offences in Rwanda. – BBC

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