THE HAGUE: Seeking to avoid a war crimes trial, former Democratic Republic of the Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba washed his hands yesterday of members of his militia group accused of atrocities in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Bemba’s lawyer told the International Criminal Court that the men, deployed in 2002 to help put down a coup, were under the command of then-CAR president Ange Felix Patasse.
“Who gave the orders and instructions? Who determined the targets? It wasn’t Jean-Pierre Bemba, it was President Patasse,” defence lawyer Aime Kilolo-Musamba argued on the final day of a hearing to determine whether Bemba should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kilolo-Musamba said Patasse’s government had provided members of Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) with transport, fuel, money and uniforms, while Libya supplied the weapons and ammunition.
Co-ordination of the operation was done by the CAR military, he told a panel of three pre-trial judges.
Bemba, 46, unsuccessfully challenged Joseph Kabila for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in landmark 2006 elections, and went into exile after his private militia was routed by government forces in 2007.
He was arrested on an ICC warrant during a visit to Brussels last May.
He faces five charges of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity for rape, torture, looting and murder allegedly committed by his MLC movement.
Prosecutors claim he sent 1,000 to 1,500 troops to the CAR for his own strategic gain: to retain control of the border area between the CAR and the Congolese province of Equateur in the war between his rebels and then-Congo leader Laurent Kabila, father of the current president.
In the process, the prosecution alleges that MLC militia gang-raped men, women and children and tortured and murdered civilians.
“MLC troops had a licence to kill without repercussions,” prosecution lawyer Horejah Bala-Gaye has told the court.
Bemba’s lawyers claim the case is part of a conspiracy to sideline him politically and that his militiamen were bona fide troops deployed to protect a democratically elected government.
Kilolo-Musamba argued that the prosecution had failed to prove that Bemba had made a material contribution to the crimes alleged, or that he knew they would be committed.
“There are no substantial grounds to state that Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba was a co-perpetrator. He cannot even be considered an accomplice in this case.”
He cited evidence that Bemba had repeatedly warned his MLC men that they would face strict sanctions for misdeeds, and said that he had asked the UN to help probe allegations of crimes committed.
Another defence lawyer, Nkwebe Liriss argued that the MLC deployment had taken place in the context of an African Union agreement.
“While it is possible that crimes may be committed in the course of a legitimate operation, that does not mean the operation itself amounted to a criminal plan,” he told the judges.
The prosecution, defence and victim representatives will next make closing statements to the court, which will have 60 days to decide whether to commit Bemba to trial. – AFP
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