BELGIAN EX-DIPLOMAT APPEALS ORDER TO STAND TRIAL IN CONGO’S LUMUMBA MURDER

A photo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba is pictured at a ceremony after the remains of PM Lumumba were symbolically handed over to the murdered leader’s children and to an official delegation, in Brussels, Belgium June 21, 2022.

REUTERS
A former high-profile Belgian diplomat has appealed against a court decision ordering him to stand ​trial over the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first ‌prime minister, in 1961, the ex-diplomat’s lawyer told Reuters on Friday.

A Belgian court ordered 93-year-old Etienne Davignon, a former vice-president of the European ​Commission, on March 17 to face prosecution over his ​alleged involvement in Lumumba’s killing 65 years ago.

Beyond confirming ⁠his client’s appeal, Davignon’s lawyer made no further comment on the case.

Prosecutors say Davignon, who was a junior diplomat at the time, participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba and deprived him of his right to an impartial trial.

Of the ​Belgian officials accused of a role in the murder, Davignon ​is the sole surviving suspect.

Lumumba, who became prime minister of the country ‌now ⁠called the Democratic Republic of Congo upon its independence from Belgium in 1960, was ousted from power just months later and killed by Belgian-backed secessionist rebels on January 16, 1961.

A ​Belgian parliamentary investigation into Lumumba’s ⁠killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was “morally responsible” for his death. But the trial of ​Davignon constitutes the first prosecution related to ​the murder, ⁠in what could be the final opportunity to pursue accountability for one of the most contentious episodes in Belgium’s colonial ⁠history.

Though his government lasted just three months, Lumumba became an anti-colonial icon as African nations pushed for independence from their European ​masters in the 1960s.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis