THE HAGUE (Reuters) – A former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) went on trial at the International Criminal Court yesterday accused of letting his troops rape and kill in the Central African Republic.
Jean-Pierre Bemba, 48, is the most senior political leader to be detained so far by the ICC. He is charged with two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes.
Bemba is accused over the sending of troops into the Central African Republic between late 2002 and early 2003 at the request of Ange-Felix Patasse, the republic’s president at the time, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to put down coup attempts.
Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Bemba sent about 1,500 troops into the CAR, where they committed hundreds of rapes and pillaged property to spread terror and devastate communities, and that Bemba failed to control his forces.
“Bemba’s troops stole the possessions of the poorest people in one of the poorest countries in the world,” Moreno-Ocampo said. “Women were raped systematically to assert dominance and to shatter resistance. Men were raped in public to destroy their authority and their capacity to lead.”
Bemba, arms crossed, showed no emotion as he pleaded not guilty through lead defence lawyer Nkwebe Liriss.
