Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leader Jean-Pierre Bemba on Wednesday asked Belgian authorities to release him and vowed to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) that ordered his arrest for alleged war crimes.
A Brussels court was due on Wednesday afternoon to rule whether to keep the former vice-president, arrested on Saturday in a suburb of the Belgian capital on an ICC warrant, in detention, according to his lawyers.
One of Bemba’s lawyers, Aime Kilolo Musamba, said that his legal team had told the court in closed-door proceedings that he ”would not leave Belgium” and would remain ”at the disposal” of the ICC if he were released.
Bemba’s lawyers said they had lodged a complaint about the absence of a lawyer during Bemba’s first questioning.
Kilolo Musamba also said: ”He could have been questioned without depriving him of his freedom because he says he wants to give information that is as yet unknown to the ICC.”
Bemba (45) was arrested on four charges of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic.
He is blamed for a series of rapes and tortures said by victims to have been committed by his men between 2002 and 2003, when his forces fought against a coup attempt in the country at the behest of then-CAR president Ange-Felix Patasse.
Once Belgian authorities receive a definitive ICC warrant for Bemba, they will then have to rule on his extradition to The Hague-based court, which could take one to two months, according to the prosecution.
About a thousand activists marched on the DRC’s Parliament in Kinshasa on Tuesday demanding that the state work to secure the release of Bemba, who is also leader of the main opposition party in the country. — Sapa-AFP