Rwanda suspect worked at UK trust

Fergal Keane
BBC News special correspondent

Dr Bajinya is wanted in Rwanda on genocide charges

An investigation by BBC News has revealed that a man - wanted for genocide in Rwanda - is living and working in Britain.

Vincent Bajinya has been working as a doctor and has served on a refugee task force for the government.

But Rwanda says he took part in the 1994 genocide in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. He denies the allegations.

A Rwandan state prosecutor is calling for Mr Bajinya to be extradited.

Dr Vincent Bajinya came to Britain in the wake of the Rwandan genocide in which up to 800,000 people were murdered.

'Eyewitnesses'

He was employed by the London-based charity Praxis to deal with refugee nurses and midwives seeking to work in Britain.

In that capacity he sat on a government task force and attended a seminar with the then Health Minister John Hutton. A Rwandan state prosecutor, Emmanuel Rukangira, says he should be extradited. Mr Rukangira and several eyewitnesses say Dr Bajinya directed militia at roadblocks where Tutsis were murdered.

But Dr Bajinya told the BBC he was innocent of the charges against him. He has now been suspended by the charity.

The director of Praxis, Reverend Vaughan Jones, said if the allegations were true it would represent a betrayal of his organisation's trust.

But he said Praxis was small with limited resources and it was the Home Office which checked the doctor's background.

The Home Office said it would not comment on individual cases but pointed out that individuals found responsible for genocide could be stripped of their immigration status.