Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa Subsaharan

DR Congo's opposition leader Katumbi, promises to 'liberate the country'

2023-12-11

[AFRICANEWS] Two weeks before the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Africa Subsaharan

Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo freed by war crimes court

2019-02-02

[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] The International Criminal Court finally freed former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo
... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker...
on Friday after his shock acquittal last month on charges of crimes against humanity.

Supporters sang and waved flags in the Hague after judges agreed to release the 73-year-old on condition that he stays in an as-yet-unnamed country pending an appeal by the prosecution.

Gbagbo, the first former head of state ever to stand trial at the ICC, and his aide Charles Ble Goude were cleared on January 15 over a wave of violence after disputed elections in the west African nation in 2010.

More than 3,000 people died on both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to his internationally backed-rival ‐ and now-president ‐ Alassane Ouattara
...the former president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo....
ICC appeals judge Chile Eboe-Osuji said the court would release Gbagbo "to a state willing to accept them on its territory and willing to enforce the conditions set" by the court.

Ivory Coast is an ICC member state, but the court may be unwilling to send Gbagbo to his homeland, given that it has refused to surrender Gbagbo’s wife Simone despite an outstanding ICC warrant for her arrest.

Lawyers have previously cited the arrangement reached with former DR Congo warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, who went to Belgium after he was cleared by the ICC last year.

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Africa Subsaharan

Congo rejects ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba's presidential bid

2018-08-26

[DW] Congo's election commission has excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and three former prime ministers from the list of approved candidates for December's presidential election.

Bemba, a former warlord, returned to the capital, Kinshasa, earlier this month to submit his candidacy for president after a decade in prison in The Hague for war crimes. He had been seen as one of the front-runners in the race to succeed incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The commission said that a separate International Criminal Court conviction for witness tampering was the reason Bemba was left off the list.

Bemba was acquitted earlier this year on appeal at the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillage committed by fighters he sent to Central African Republic in 2002.

His witness tampering conviction however, still stands.

The election commission's decision was condemned by opposition parties and can be appealed before the final list is published in September.

"Once again the current regime is showing its determination to suppress the electoral process," they said in a joint statement before the commission published the list on Friday.

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Africa Subsaharan

Jean-Pierre Bemba returns to DR Congo to submit presidential candidacy

2018-08-02

[DW] Jean-Pierre Bemba has returned to the DR Congo for the first time in 11 years to submit his candidacy for the nation's upcoming presidential election. He had spent most of the last decade in custody for war crimes.

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Africa Subsaharan

Congo-Kinshasa: Acquittal of Bemba a Blow to Victims

2018-06-15

[All Africa] Following the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s decision to acquit Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, the former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
(DRC), Solomon Sacco, Head of the International Justice team at ~~Amnesia~~ Amnesty International, said:

"The decision to acquit Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is an important reminder that international justice is only possible if all suspects receive stringently fair trials before an independent and impartial judiciary.

"While the Appeals Chamber has held that Mr Bemba was entitled to an acquittal, the decision will be felt as a huge blow for the many victims of the ’war against women’ waged in the Central African Republic (CAR) through a horrifying campaign of rape and sexual violence.

"The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and judicial authorities in CAR must learn from this decision and redouble their efforts to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of crimes under international law, with full respect for their rights to a fair trial.

"5229 survivors of Bemba’s atrocities participated in the ICC proceedings ‐ for these brave individuals, as well as thousands of other victims in CAR, the pursuit of truth, justice and reparations will continue."

Background
Today the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeal Trial Chambers acquitted Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, a Congolese national who was tossed in the slammer
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
in Belgium for his involvement in the conflict in Central African Republic.

Bemba was transferred to the ICC in July 2008 and charged with three counts of war crimes - murder, rape, and pillaging - and two counts of crimes against humanity - murder and rape. All the charges are related to the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) between 26 October 2002 and 15 March 2003.

On 21 March 2016, the judges of Trial Chamber III unanimously convicted Bemba of all charges. The conviction was based on the principle of command responsibility; the Trial Chamber found that Bemba knew that his militia troops were committing or about to commit crimes, but failed to take reasonable measures to deter or to punish these crimes.

On 21 June 2016, he was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.

Bemba was also tried separately, alongside his lead defence lawyer, Aimé Kilolo-Musamba, and his case manager, Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, as well as a member of the Congolese Parliament and a defence witness. In October 2016, all five men were found guilty under Article 70 of the Rome Statute for offenses against the administration of justice.

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Africa Subsaharan

ICC judges order Jean-Pierre Bemba's interim release

2018-06-13

[Al Jazeera] The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the interim release "under specific conditions" of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the ex-vice president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Africa Subsaharan

Congo-Kinshasa: Bemba Acquitted of War Crimes At the ICC

2018-06-10

[All Africa] The Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has overturned Jean-Pierre Bemba's conviction for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a ruling issued Friday afternoon, a majority of appeals judges found that the trial chamber erred in finding that Bemba did not take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the crimes committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) by his subordinate troops 16 years ago.

They also ruled that trial judges erroneously convicted Bemba for specific criminal acts that were outside the scope of the charges confirmed against him by the pre-trial chamber.

Judges Sanji Mmasenono Monageng and Piotr Hofmański disagreed with the majority's decision to acquit Bemba. Other judges on the Appeals Chamber were Christine Van den Wyngaert (presiding), Chile Eboe-Osuji, and Howard Morrison.

Bemba is the most high profile individual tried at the ICC, having served as a vice president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Africa Subsaharan

Former Congo Leader Sentenced For Heading Rape, Murder Spree

2016-06-22

[NEWSWEEK] Congolese politician Jean-Pierre Bemba was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
on Tuesday for heading a 2002-03 campaign of rape and murder in neighboring Central African Republic.

Bemba, a former Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
vice-president, is the first person that the global war crimes court has held directly responsible for his subordinates' crimes.

Judge Sylvia Steiner said troops from the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), which Bemba directed, had acted with "particular cruelty" when they rampaged through the neighboring country in support of then-president Ange-Felix Patasse.

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Africa Subsaharan

Jean-Pierre Bemba Convicted at ICC of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity

2016-03-22

[NBCNEWS] A high-ranking Congolese politician was convicted unanimously Monday of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a landmark case at the Hague.

The charges against Jean-Pierre Bemba — a former rebel leader and vice president in the Democratic Republic of Congo — related to rapes, murders and pillaging allegedly carried out by his fighters.

Bemba was the highest-ranking official yet to be convicted by the court and showed no emotion as the unanimous verdict against him was read out Monday at the Hague.

His marathon trial — which began in November 2010 — was the ICC's first to focus on crimes committed in Central African Republic (CAR) and the first to recognize rape as as war crime.

Bemba faced three war-crimes charges and two counts of crimes against humanity — for allegedly commanding the MLC militia which raped, murdered and pillaged between 2002 and 2003 in neighboring CAR's civil war.

The trial focused on the question of "command responsibility" — i.e. whether Bemba should be held legally liable for alleged crimes committed by fighters under his control. It also was the first case to focus so heavily on rape as a war crime, according to the Open Society Foundations.

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Africa Subsaharan

Former Congolese VP 'Surprised' by ICC Witness Tampering Charges

2013-11-28

[An Nahar] Former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba said Wednesday he was surprised at being charged in the

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
for witness tampering in his war crimes trial.

"I understand the charges but I am very surprised," said Bemba during an initial hearing at the court in the Hague.

Bemba, his lawyer Aime Kilolo and his former private secretary Fidele Babala Wandu have been charged for allegedly being "part of a network for the purposes of presenting false or forged documents and bribing certain persons to give false testimony in the case against Mr. Bemba."

In that case, Bemba, 51, faces three war crimes counts and two of crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillage committed by some 1,500 members of his private army in the neighboring CAR between October 2002 and March 2003.

Kilolo, who is Bemba's defense lawyer in the war crimes case, said he was "surprised at being deprived of my freedom while I spend most of my time at the Hague in the ICC buildings where I have my offices."

The lawyer was tossed in the slammer
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
at Brussels airport while Wandu was arrested in Kinshasa.

Two others -- a member of Bemba's defense team Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo and Narcisse Arido, a defense witness -- are also in jug.

The arrests were the first for witness tampering in a case tried by the ICC.

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Africa Subsaharan

Aides of DR Congo War Crimes Suspect Held for Witness Tampering

2013-11-25

[An Nahar] Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba's lawyer and a member of his party have been tossed in the clink
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
on suspicion of tampering with witnesses in the ex-warlord's war crimes trial in The Hague, party officials said Sunday.

The chairman of Bemba's opposition party the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) said

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
warrants were carried out against politician Fidele Babala Wandu in Kinshasa and lawyer Aime Kilolo at Brussels airport.

The ICC confirmed a total of four arrests had been made, including Babala Wandu and Kilolo.

MLC front man Germain Kambinga told Agence La Belle France Presse Babala Wandu was arrested at his home overnight Saturday to Sunday by security forces holding the ICC warrants.

He was being held in the prosecutor's office in Kinshasa. "We did not know about this warrant. We were all surprised, we are in shock," Kambinga said.

Following news of the arrests, members of the MLC met with the president of the National Assembly, Aubin Minaku, to discuss the "regrettable incident," Kambinga said.

The 57-year-old Babala Wandu was Bemba's private secretary when he was DR Congo's vice-president from 2003 to 2006.

Bemba's rebel army is accused of atrocities in the Central African Republic and he has been jugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
by the ICC since 2008, charged with three war crimes counts and two of crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillaging.

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Africa Subsaharan

Congo warlord convicted of using child soldiers

2012-03-15

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Judges at a war crimes tribunal convicted a Congolese warlord Wednesday of snatching children from the street and turning them into killers, in the International Criminal Court's landmark first judgment 10 years after it was established.

This will be used to justify another ten years of dithering. And lunch. And White Toyota Land Cruisers for all the Euro-apparatchik kids who will go to work for the ICC...

Thus demonstrating to all that they are Good People, giving back to society for all the advantages conferred upon them. That they are also given a lifestyle well beyond their paychecks will be ignored by all concerned.

"The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Thomas Lubanga is guilty of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities," said Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford.

Lubanga, wearing an ivory-colored robe and skull cap, sat with his hands clasped in front of him listening to the verdict and showed no emotion as Fulford declared him guilty. As he left court flanked by guards, Lubanga nodded and smiled to supporters in the public gallery. A sentencing hearing will now be scheduled. Lubanga faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Judges said Lubanga, "personally used children below the age of 15 as his bodyguards."

While the three-judge panel unanimously convicted Lubanga, it also harshly criticized prosecutors as "negligent" for using intermediaries to deal with witnesses in Congo.

So it was a little dangerous for the prosecutors to leave the Netherlands? Brave, brave ICC...

Fulford said three intermediaries "persuaded, encouraged or assisted witnesses to give false evidence" and scrapped the evidence of three witnesses.

"The Prosecutor's office must review its limited investigation strategy adopted in the Lubanga case, especially in light of such decisions precluding victims from participating in trials and obtaining reparation," said Michael Bochenek of Amnesty International. "Lessons need to be learned for future cases."

Amnesty also criticized the court for not charging Lubanga with sexual violence crimes, saying the decision potentially denied "justice and reparation to many more victims."

Where was Amnesty in all this? Did they offer to provide bodyguards? Fly to the Congo themselves? Hire Blackwater to protect the witnesses?

Amnesty (along with other groups) already owned the judges; this is the warm up to getting the prosecutor's office as well.

However, other witnesses and video of Lubanga speaking to recruits, some of them children, at a training camp provided enough evidence to convict him.

Prosecutors said Lubanga led the Union of Congolese Patriots political group and commanded its armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, which recruited children -- sometimes by force, other times voluntarily -- into its ranks to fight in a brutal ethnic conflict in the Ituri region of eastern Congo.

The trial, which began in January 2009, is the first at an international court to focus exclusively on the use of child soldiers and activists say it should send a clear message to armies and rebels around the world that conscripting children breaches international law.

Message: don't get caught. Second message: know how to buy off the Euros...

The first verdict is a coming of age for the court set up to prosecute war crimes suspects in countries unable or unwilling to try them. So far, prosecutors have opened seven investigations and have just five suspects in custody, including former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba.

However, questions still remain about the its effectiveness. The court has no police force to arrest suspects and can only launch investigations in the 120 countries that recognize its jurisdiction, or if the Security Council orders a probe.

That means that the court is powerless to intervene in the bloody conflict tearing Syria apart because Damascus has not recognized the court and the Security Council is bitterly divided.

Funny how that works. Don't worry, Uncle Sam will get the blame somehow...

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