Not guilty plea from former Congo vice-president accused of war crimes

Published on Monday 22 November 2010 15:27

Congo's former vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of murder, rape and pillage at the start of his war crimes trial in The Hague, in a case the chief prosecutor says will define a commander's legal responsibility to control his troops.

The trial of Bemba, 48, is only the third to get under way at the International Criminal Court since it began work in 2002. Bemba, who had been seen as a potential presidential candidate in Congo's next election, is the most senior political figure in the court's custody.

Addressing the three-judge panel yesterday, prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said that the International Criminal Court's decision "will influence the behaviour of thousands of military commanders" around the world.

Bemba sat impassively with his arms crossed as his lawyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to each of the charges.

Prosecutors say Bemba allowed 1,500 members of his personal militia, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, to run amok in Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003 after the country's then-president, Ange-Feliz Patasse, asked for its help in an ultimately unsuccessful fight against rebels led by Congo's former army chief of staff, Franois Bozize.

Mr Moreno Ocampo said small gangs of Bemba's troops systematically invaded homes to terrorise civilians, aiming to prevent them joining the rebellion.

"They stole all possessions that could be carried off and raped women, girls, elders regardless of their age. If the civilians resisted the rape or pillaging, they were killed," he said.

The rapes "were crimes of domination and humiliation" targeting women and men in positions of power, he added.

Mr Moreno Ocampo said that Bemba did not explicitly order the atrocities but turned a blind eye to them, giving troops "licence to attack civilians".

"As superior, Jean-Pierre Bemba is even more responsible than his subordinates. A commander who lets his troops carry out such criminal tactics is hundreds of times more dangerous than any single rapist."

Margot Wallstrom, the UN special representative for sexual violence in conflict, said the trial would help shatter the silence that surrounds mass rape used as a weapon, which she said is normally met with "mass impunity".

"It is not that war-time rape is new," she told reporters at the court."What is new is the willingness of the international community to address it, not as random acts of a few renegade soldiers but as a calculated crime."

Prosecutors plan to call up to 40 witnesses, including more than a dozen rape victims, and expect to take six months to present their evidence.

Bemba's lawyers insist he is innocent and that he tried to investigate and prosecute officers responsible for the atrocities. Mr Moreno Ocampo dismissed those efforts as "sham trials".

Activists hope the trial will send a message to fighters and their commanders around the world that those using rape as a weapon will be punished.

The charges "should give pause to leaders of armed groups who pursue political power through violence," Ms Wallstrom said.

Bemba ruled a large part of Congo during that country's 1998-2002 war, with support from neighbouring Uganda. After a peace agreement ended the war, he became one of Congo's four vice-presidents.

He came second in a presidential election in 2006 behind Joseph Kabila. He was elected a senator but refused to dismantle his militia, which led to clashes with security forces in March 2007 that left at least 300 dead.

Facing charges of treason, he fled into exile in Portugal and Belgium, where he was arrested in July 2008.