ICC reverses bail decision over former DRC rebel leader
The International Criminal Court reversed a decision to award bail to Congolese war crimes suspect Jean-Pierre Bemba. Judges at The Hague feel the former Democratic Republic of Congo vice-president might flee. Bemba is accused of leading militias who murdered and raped civilians in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003, during a brutal civil war in the DRC that affected some half-a-dozen neighbouring states. He was arrested in Belgium last year and extradited to The Hague, where the court initially granted him bail, but held him until it decided which country would host him. Bemba went into exile in Portugal in 2007, saying he feared for his life in the DRC after his militia battled government troops in the streets of Kinshasa, in clashes that killed hundreds. Read more: BBC, The New York Times, Reuters
Become an Insider