The former Congolese vice-president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has had his convictions for war crimes and crimes against humanity overturned. Bemba was found guilty in 2016 of crimes committed in the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) from 2002 to 2003.
We can read the official statement on the ICC website:
On 8 June 2018, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court decided, by majority, to acquit Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo from the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Mr Bemba will remain in detention on account of another case before the ICC in which he has beenconvicted of offences against the administration of justice, pending a decision of Trial Chamber VII in that case.
The BBC website reports that the decision to overturn the 18-year sentence was greeted with cheers from his supporters in the gallery. But human rights group Amnesty International said it was a “huge blow” for the victims of a “horrifying campaign of rape and sexual violence“, as it called on the authorities to redouble their efforts to prosecute those who had carried it out.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda described the ruling as “regrettable and troubling“. She added: ‘Today’s judgement does not deny that Mr Bemba’s troops committed the crimes which resulted in great suffering in the Central African Republic at their hands‘. The ICC appeals chamber said the trial court had “erroneously convicted Bemba for specific criminal acts that were outside the scope of the charges as confirmed”…
FIDH tweeted about this decision:
#Bemba's acquittal : "Twenty years after its creation, has the #ICC just scuttled itself?" @Karine_Bonneau_ #FIDHhttps://t.co/HbQFG41wNE
— FIDH (@fidh_en) June 10, 2018
Dr Denis Mukwege also made a statement on the acquittal of Jean-Pierre Bemba:
The acquittal of Jean-Pierre Bemba is the outcome of a tenacious judicial saga that lasted longer than a decade. Jean-Pierre Bemba was prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes committed in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Those responsible for the crimes – be they direct or indirect perpetrators of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in CAR and the Democratic Republic of Congo – have never been held to account. The victims are still waiting for justice.
Bemba will remain in ICC detention as he was in October 2016, convicted for tampering with witnesses before the court, and was sentenced to a one-year prison term and a fine of €300,000 but the ICC still has to decide whether a new jail term will be imposed.
Now he has been acquitted by the ICC, no doubt Bemba will lead the opposition to run in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-awaited elections…
