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Bemba War Crimes Trial Begins Monday

   Peter Clottey 21 November 2010
   Olive  Lembe Kabila (C), the wife of President Joseph Kabila speaks to
   women during a march dubbed World March of Women in Bukavu, South Kivu
   Province, 17 Oct 2010.

Photo: AFP

   Olive  Lembe Kabila (C), the wife of President Joseph Kabila speaks to
   women during a march dubbed World March of Women in Bukavu, South Kivu
   Province, 17 Oct 2010.

   A  spokesperson for the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC)
   told  VOA  the  trial  of  former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre
   Bemba  on  charges  of rape, murder and crimes against humanity begins
   Monday in the Netherlands.

   Daphne  Anayiotos  said  Bemba  is  being  held accountable for crimes
   allegedly committed by rebels in neighboring Central African Republic,
   including rape used, she said, as a weapon.

   âJean-Pierre  Bemba  will  be  on trial starting today, Monday, on the
   22^nd November in the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity
   committed in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.â

   Prosecutors  indicted  Bemba for two crimes against humanity and three
   war  crimes  allegedly  committed  in  the  Central  African  Republic
   territory  during  the  period  from 26^th October 2002 to 15^th March
   2003.

   In  2004,  Central African Republic referred the alleged crimes to the
   ICC.

   Critics  have  questioned  the  rationale  behind the trial contending
   President  Ange-Félix  Patassé  invited  Bemba  to  help stave off a
   rebellion.

   âPatassé  hasnât  been charged yet and we donât know whether he would
   be  charged  or  not, but investigations in CAR are still ongoing. So,
   there is a chance that the prosecutor will request a warrant of arrest
   against Patassé in the future,â Anayiotos said.

   Bemba  is the only person to be indicted by the ICC in relation to the
   allegations.

   While  in  Belgium  in 2008, Bemba was arrested in, and transferred to
   the ICC in, The Hague.

   Luis  Moreno-Ocampo,  chief prosecutor of the ICC, told reporters that
   âafter  Bemba's troops conquered the areas where the rebels were, they
   organized  small  groups  to  move  from  house  to  house, raping and
   pillaging, killing those who opposed them. The weapon in this case was
   massive. It was an army.â

   ICC spokesperson Anayiotos said Congoâs capital, Kinshasa, where Bemba
   enjoys  significant  support,  is  anxiously  waiting for the trial to
   begin.

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