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ICC Sentences Ex-Congo VP to 1 Year for Witness Tampering

by Associated Press

   THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS --

   Judges at the International Criminal Court have re-imposed a one-year
   prison sentence and 300,000-euro ($350,000) fine on a former Congolese
   vice president for interfering with witnesses at his war crimes trial.

   However, Jean-Pierre Bemba will not have to go to prison due to time he
   has already spent in the court's custody.
   Bemba and members of his legal team were convicted in 2016 of corruptly
   influencing witnesses in his trial on charges of commanding troops who
   committed atrocities in the Central African Republic. Appeals judges
   acquitted him of all charges in that case earlier this year and ordered
   him freed.
   Appeals judges in his witness tampering trial upheld most of Bemba's
   convictions earlier this year but ordered trial judges to reconsider
   his sentence.
   On Monday, the trial judges re-affirmed Bemba's original sentence.