Al Jazeera World

Jean-pierre Bemba After Icc Acquittal: Set To Shake Up Drc Politics (2018x23)

Data di messa in onda: Lug 30, 2018

The landmark conviction of Jean-Pierre Bemba for war crimes and crimes against humanity was overturned by panels of judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague last month. A majority ruling saw Bemba acquitted of all charges against him. The former rebel leader and vice president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spent nearly a decade in custody in The Hague. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison after sending his militia to the Central African Republic (CAR) to help put down a coup attempt, where they conducted a reign of terror. A rampage of looting and killing of civilians followed, including the mass rape of hundreds of women. But a majority of judges ruled on his appeal that he could not be held responsible for the actions of his fighters. His lawyers argued successfully his fighters were no longer under his command after they crossed the international border - an argument Bemba has maintained throughout his trials and incarceration. 'I have a lot of sympathy for all the victims ... I have a lot of sympathy for people in Central Africa ... if there are any victims, I'm very sad and I support them in their pain,' Bemba tells Al Jazeera. 'But I have been acquitted by a professional judge, an experienced judge, an honest judge and that is all. Justice has been served.' His militia, known as the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), has now been transformed into a political party opposing the rule of President Joseph Kabila. The electoral commission (CENI) has announced that a delayed election is due to take place in December. The election was due at the end of 2016, Joseph Kabila's end of term. In spite of this, Kabila has maintained his position and refuses, to date, to announce the presidential majority candidate who would run for his party. This has stoked concern that Kabila is seeking to change the constitution in order to run again or further delay the elections. 'I never heard from himsel