Lawyers call for Bemba’s immediate release

THE HAGUE: Lawyers for Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Congolese ex-vice president whose war crimes conviction was quashed on appeal last week, requested his immediate release yesterday from the International Criminal Court.

Bemba, 55, has been in the ICC detention centre since his arrest in 2008. The Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader was convicted in 2016 of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

But that conviction was overturned on appeal last Friday in a major setback for prosecutors. Appeals judges said they could not pin responsibility on Bemba for the killing and raping of civilians by soldiers under his command.

He was the highest ranking official among only four people who had successfully been prosecuted at the permanent war crimes court since it was set up in 2002.

Defence attorney Melinda Taylor asked the panel of judges during a hearing yesterday for Bemba’s “imminent interim release to Belgium where his family resides”.

Judge Bertram Schmitt said a decision would be made by today “at the latest”.

Normally suspects are immediately released after an acquittal, but Bemba also faces sentencing for a separate charge, for witness tampering during the trial.

The charge for tampering was brought in November 2013 and prosecutors said Bemba should remain in custody until a final sentence was issued in that case.

Taylor argued that Bemba had already spent a decade in jail and the possible maximum five-year sentence for witness tampering could at most add a few months prison time.

“It is not logical that he would risk becoming a fugitive from justice for those three months,” Taylor said. Bemba signed a document accepting any conditions the judges might attach to his release, she said.

Upon release, Bemba is expected to leave the Netherlands for Belgium, where his wife and five children live.

“He’s never given up on his political ambitions,” said Peter Haynes, another member of the defence team. “I’d be surprised if he can stay away from it”. – Reuters

PICTURE: MICHAEL KOOREN/REUTERS/FILE PHOTO Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo of the DRC at the ICC in The Hague in 2016. His conviction on war crimes was quashed last week and lawyers have called for his immediate release.