The former rebel leader Jean Pierre Bemba has been sentenced to 18 years in jail after being found guilty for having masterminded and monitored killings of numerous people, rape and various crimes against humanity committed in Central African Republic in 2003.
The Prosecution was arguing for 25 years in jail, a sentence that has never been applied since the inception of the tribunal.
Jean Pierre Bemba who led the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo knew his army was executing crimes against civilians and didn’t intervene to stop it until it generated into widespread killings and criminal behaviors among his units, the judges affirmed.
The crimes he was found guilty of were persecuted in Central African republic in 2002 ans 2003 where his militias entered that nation to back the army of Ange Felix Patasse, the then Head of State, who finally was overthrown by Francois Bozize in 2004.
He was arrested in Brussels later on after the International Criminal Court issued international warrants on his behalf.
UM– USEKE.RW
