Ex-Congo VP, aides guilty of bribery in war crimes trial
International judges yesterday found former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba and four close aides guilty of bribing and corrupting witnesses in a bid to derail his landmark war crimes trial. The case was “about the clear, and downright criminal behavior of the five accused... that resulted in serious offences against the administration of justice,” judge Bertram Schmitt told the International Criminal Court while handing down the verdict. “No legal system in the world can accept the bribing of witnesses, the inducement of witnesses to lie or the coaching of witnesses,” he told the five men, who were all present in the court in The Hague.
Each of the men stood in turn and remained impassive as Schmitt pronounced them guilty of most charges, although there were acquittals on some of the lesser charges against two of the defendants. “Today’s judgment sends a clear message that the court is not willing to allow its proceedings to be hampered or destroyed,” Schmitt said. And he further warned that those who sought to undermine the court would “not go unpunished”.
Prosecutors charged that from his prison cell, the ex-rebel leader Bemba masterminded a network to bribe and manipulate at least 14 defense witnesses to lie during his trial at ICC based in The Hague. Bemba was sentenced in June to 18 years in jail on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his militia in Central African Republic. Once the powerful leader of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) and a wealthy businessman from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bemba, 53, remains behind bars in The Netherlands and is appealing his sentence.