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Congo's
Bemba transferred to Hague court
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 (July
4,2008)THE HAGUE - The International Criminal Court took
custody on Thursday of its highest-profile suspect to date -- Congolese
former rebel warlord and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was
arrested in Belgium in May.
The transfer of Bemba, accused of leading Congolese rebels who waged
a campaign of rape and torture in the Central African Republic in
2002/2003, is a boost to the court after judges ordered the release
of its first suspect on Wednesday. The decision to free Congolese
militia leader Thomas Lubanga -- who will stay in detention pending
a prosecution appeal -- was seen as a major blow for the world's first
permanent warcrimes court, set up in 2002.
ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced Bemba's transfer to The
Hague at a conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing
of the court's founding treaty and promised justice for the victims
of "massive sexual violence".
"There will be no impunity," he said in a statement. "We
cannot bring back those who were killed or died of AIDS after being
violated, but I am hopeful that we will bring justice for the victims."
Bemba, whose lawyers had mounted a series of challenges in Belgian
courts to his arrest and transfer, is being held at the court's detention
centre in Scheveningen close to The Hague. The court said he was in
good health.
The ICC has not announced a date for an initial appearance of the
former rebel warlord who was defeated by Joseph Kabila in Democratic
Republic of Congo's 2006 presidential election.
Several hundred people were killed when Bemba's militiamen fought
in the streets of Kinshasa with Kabila's troops in March 2007, and
the presence of these Bemba loyalists in the capital and Equateur
province is still a source of unease. |
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