Photo credit: the Guardian
A former Belgian diplomat, 93, should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a Brussels court has ruled.
The Guardian reports that Etienne Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing, is charged with participation in war crimes.
The decision, which follows a surprise referral by the Brussels prosecutor last June, can be appealed against. Davignon, a former vice-president of the European Commission, has denied the charges.
In a statement, the Lumumba family welcomed what they called a significant step: “For our family, this is not the end of a long fight, it is the beginning of a reckoning that history has long demanded.”
The decision was also hailed by lawyers for the Lumumba family as setting a historic precedent in criminal justice for crimes allegedly committed under European colonial rule.
If the trial goes ahead, Davignon will be the first Belgian official to face justice over the assassination of Lumumba 65 years ago. In its decision, the court went beyond the prosecutor’s decision, extending the scope of the trial to cover Lumumba’s associates, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, who were murdered alongside him.
