Ex-Belgian diplomat faces trial over Lumumba assassination

Etienne Davignon took part in war crimes, including the “humiliating and degrading” treatment of the anti-colonial leader, prosecutors have said

A Belgian court has ordered former diplomat Etienne Davignon to stand trial over his alleged role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister and an anti-colonial figure, more than six decades ago.

Davignon, 93, is accused of participation in war crimes, including Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer,” denying him a fair trial, and subjecting him to humiliating and degrading treatment, according to prosecutors.

The decision by the Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance, announced on Tuesday, also covers the killings of Lumumba’s allies Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.

Davignon is the sole survivor among the ten Belgians accused by Lumumba’s family. He was not in court when the ruling was delivered, Reuters reported, adding that his lawyer declined to comment.

The former European commissioner was a junior diplomat at the time of Lumumba’s murder and has previously denied wrongdoing. He has two weeks to appeal and, unless the ruling is overturned, the trial is expected to begin in 2027.

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Lumumba became prime minister when Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, but was ousted within months and executed by firing squad in January 1961 at the age of 35. Although Congolese separatists carried out the assassination, questions have long persisted over Belgian and US involvement during the Cold War.

A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for his death, a finding later acknowledged by the government in an official apology. Lumumba had sought Soviet support during Congo’s post-independence crisis, and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) was named after him as a symbol of African independence.

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In 2022, Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth – the only known remains of Lumumba – to his family.

In a press release, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said the Lumumba family has welcomed the latest court decision as the start of a long-awaited reckoning with Belgium’s responsibility for acts committed “in the name of colonial rule.”

“What we ask of this court is simple: the truth, spoken aloud, in the open, on the record of justice and history,” it stated.

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