International Criminal Court to proceed with war crimes trial against Congolese warlord Bemba

International Criminal Court to proceed with war crimes trial against Congolese warlord Bemba

2010-10-19 17:21:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday said it will proceed with a war crimes trial against Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, rejecting his appeal on the admissibility of his case.

Bemba, 47, is alleged to have been criminally responsible for having effectively acted as a military commander for two crimes against humanity - murder and rape - and three war crimes - murder, rape and pillaging. They were allegedly committed in the Central African Republic between October 26, 2002 and March 15, 2003.

Tuesday's decision confirms that the case against Bemba is admissible in the ICC, which is based in the Dutch city of The Hague.

On June 24, lawyers for Bemba alleged an abuse of due process and denied the admissibility of the case in the ICC. The court threw out this complaint, however, after which the defense appealed against that ruling.

Judge Anita UÅ¡acka, Presiding Judge in Bemba's appeal, explained the court's decision on Tuesday. She recalled that article 17(1)( of the Rome Statute provides that a case is inadmissible before the ICC where the case has been investigated by a State which has jurisdiction over it, and the State has decided not to prosecute the person concerned, unless that decision resulted from the unwillingness or inability of the State genuinely to prosecute.

In September 2004, the Bangui Regional Court's Senior Investigating Judge in the Central African Republic dismissed the charges against Bemba, which concerned the events that now form the basis of the charges against him before the ICC.

UÅ¡acka summarized the procedural history of the proceedings against Bemba before the Central African courts, and indicated that the Court of Appeals and the Court of Cassation in Bangui expressly reversed the Senior Investigating Judge's Order, upheld the charges against Bemba, and ruled that the case against Bemba should be referred by the competent authorities in the Central African Republic to the ICC.

Several months later, on December 21, 2004, the Government of the Central African Republic referred to the ICC the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court committed anywhere in its territory since July 1, 2002.

Bemba served as Vice President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from July 17, 2003 until December 2006, when his government was ousted in the country's first democratic elections in 40 years, despite a Supreme Court challenge.

Several months later, in April 2007, Bemba fled Congo as he said he feared for his life after clashes between his militia and guards of President Joseph Kabila. He was later detained in Brussels in May 2008 by Belgian authorities, who handed him over to the Hague in July of this year.

A date is still to be set for the start of Bemba's war crimes trial.

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