Rwanda | | Dr
Vincent Bajinya - wanted for his alleged part in the genocide |
A
doctor accused of crimes against humanity has been working for a British charity
and advising the government about refugees.
Dr Vincent Bajinya has been
charged with multiple murders and with helping to organise the genocide in Rwanda.
But
BBC Inside Out has discovered that he works 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 British government.
Dr
Bajinya, who changed his surname to Brown two years ago, tells presenter Fergal
Keane that he is innocent:
"I don't have any connection with the genocide.
I was not a politician and I didn't even know that the Rwandan government is accusing
me. "I had nothing to do with the massacres in Rwanda."
But
an international arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan government says that Dr
Bajinya was a political extremist who helped to plan the 1994 genocide.
He’s
accused of supervising the killers in the Nyarugenge district of Kigali and of
ordering the murder of 15 of his neighbours. The alleged victims include
an old man, a child and a mother with her new-born baby.
The warrant also
accuses him of supervising road blocks where an unknown number of victims were
stopped and killed. Crimes against humanity?
National
Prosecutor Emmanuel Rukangira says that Dr Bajinya should face trial for crimes
against humanity: "We consider Bajinya as a senior suspect
of the genocide, as somebody who incited the killing of very many people."
He
is hoping the British government will extradite Dr Bajinya, even though there
is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
 | | Dr
Bajinya has been suspended by Praxis |
Inside Out also spoke
to three eye witnesses in Kigali who accuse Dr Bajinya of murder.
Janvier
Mabuye says he heard Dr Bajinya ordering the killers to finish off a taxi driver
who had already been attacked with machetes.
"Bajinya told them look
this is not how you kill a person, you're just playing with him. "He
might survive if you just leave him the way he is. At that point he called a young
man and another neighbour and they came and killed him off.
"That
is one of the images that always lasts each time I remember the genocide. It's
one of the images of Bajinya that remains in my mind."
Dr Bajinya
has now been suspended by Praxis. The charity's director, Vaughan Jones,
said it would be a tragedy for his organisation if the allegations were true.
"I had no suspicions and when I saw the allegations, I
was very shocked. If they are true then I would feel betrayed, because we work
with people who have come from difficult situations and need proper support.
"We
are aware that there are all kinds of allegations and counter allegations in the
community and sorting out the victim from the perpetrator is extremely hard."
No
expedition treatyThe Home Office, which granted Dr Bajinya refugee status,
doesn't comment on individual cases. But it says that the absence of an
extradition treaty is not an absolute barrier to extradition.
"We
wouldn't wish anyone suspected of genocide to enjoy impunity here. Where there
are allegations the government will establish the facts and assess the evidence
before taking any action.
"In principle, where any individual is responsible
for genocide the government would want to look at stripping them of their immigration
status and removing them from the UK."
The genocide in Rwanda lasted
just one hundred days, but claimed the lives of around 800,000 people. Most
of the victims were from the minority Tutsi population, which was attacked by
Hutu extremists. Links relating to this story:The BBC is not responsible for the content
of external websites | 
Inside
Out - South: Monday November 6, 2006
