/ 4 July 2008

DRC rebel leader faces International Criminal Court

Former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba made his first appearance on Friday before the International Criminal Court.

Former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba made his first appearance on Friday before the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Bemba entered the courtroom accompanied by security guards and took his seat quietly behind his legal team. Asked to introduce himself to the court, he stated his name curtly, and declined a reading of the charge sheet.

About his holding conditions, the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) told the court: ”The conditions aren’t the best, not what I had hoped for, but I have nothing to add at this time.”

Bemba is accused of a range of crimes allegedly committed by his men between 2002 and 2003, when his forces fought a coup attempt in the Central African Republic at the behest of then president Ange-Felix Patasse.

He faces five counts of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity, with specific charges including murder, rape and torture.

Bemba was transferred to the detention unit of the court on Thursday from Brussels, where he was arrested on an ICC warrant on May 24.

He is the court’s fourth detainee behind fellow DRC militiamen Thomas Lubanga, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga.

In Bemba’s arrest warrant, Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) combatants are alleged to have attacked the civilian population, committing rape and torture on ”a systematic or widespread scale”.

As commander-in-chief, the prosecution alleges Bemba must have known the risk of such crimes occurring when sending his combatants to the Central African Republic, and accuses him of keeping his troops there even after being informed of the perpetration of the acts.

It therefore seeks to hold him criminally responsible for his men’s actions.

Bemba’s lawyer, Aime Kilolo Musamba, said on Thursday his client welcomed the chance to prove his innocence. ”This provides us with the opportunity to go to The Hague and present the elements of defence that we have which will help establish that Mr Bemba has no legal responsibility in this affair,” he said.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has welcomed Bemba’s extradition to The Hague.

”Justice is coming for the victims, for the victims of the Central African Republic, for the victims of massive sexual violence worldwide,” he said on Thursday. ”We listened to them, and we transformed their painful stories into evidence. There will be no impunity.”

Richard Dicker, the director of Human Rights Watch’s international justice programme, described Bemba’s transfer as ”a terrific moment” for those who suffered in the Central African Republic.

”It is the most welcome news to see Bemba in The Netherlands awaiting fair trial,” he said. ”We look forward to further arrest warrants arising from the same situation.”

Several processes will have to be followed before a trial date can be set, including a hearing to confirm the charges against Bemba. This could take months or even years. Lubanga, the subject of the first case before the ICC, was transferred to the court in March 2006, but his trial has yet to start.

Bemba (45) heads a vast business empire and had been living in exile in Portugal, where he fled under United Nations protection following a shoot-out with the presidential guard in the DRC that killed more than 200 people in March 2007.

That followed defeat to his fierce rival and current DRC President Joseph Kabila in 2006 elections.

The ICC entered into force six years ago as a permanent world court mandated to try war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. — Sapa-AFP