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Belgian court sends 93-year-old former diplomat to trial for killing Congolese leader

2026-03-17 16:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Belgian court sends 93-year-old former diplomat to trial for killing Congolese

A former Belgian diplomat, 93, must stand trial for alleged complicity in the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a court in Brussels has ruled.

Étienne Davignon is accused of participating in war crimes in connection with the assassination of then-Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing, is accused of participating in war crimes. The decision, which follows a surprise referral by the Brussels prosecutor last June, can be appealed. Davignon, a former vice-president of the European Commission, has denied the charges.

Lumumba's grandson, Mehdi Lumumba, told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that he was relieved to hear of the court's ruling. "Belgium is finally facing its history," he said. Lumumba was tortured and killed by a firing squad in January 1961, along with his associates Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo. The killings were carried out by separatists in the Katanga region with the support of Belgian mercenaries.

Davignon had arrived in what was then the Belgian Congo as a 28-year-old diplomatic intern on the eve of independence in 1960. The charges the prosecutor outlined related to his alleged role in the “illegal detention and transfer” of Lumumba and the denial of a fair trial, as well as “humiliating and degrading treatment.” A charge of intent to murder was dropped. Davignon, who later held numerous senior political and business roles, was not present at the hearing at the Palais de Justice in Brussels and his lawyers made no comment as they left.

His lawyer rejected the war crimes allegations in a closed-door hearing in January and argued that the reasonable time to try the case had passed, according to sources cited in Belgian media.

A 2001 parliamentary inquiry concluded that Belgian ministers bore moral responsibility for the events leading to the Congolese leader's horrific death. Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth to Lumumba's family in 2022, which one of the Belgians involved in the murder had kept as a macabre souvenir.

Belgium's then-prime minister, Alexander De Croo, reiterated his country's "moral responsibility" for Lumumba's assassination at a ceremony to mark the return of the tooth./CNA, translated by The Guardian