Request to the Kingdom of Belgium for the arrest and surrender of Bemba

ICC-CPI-20080612-PR323

Situation: Central African Republic
Case: The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo

On 10 June 2008, the judges of Pre-Trial Chamber III issued a request to the Kingdom of Belgium for the arrest and surrender of Jean-Pierre Bemba to the Court. The Registrar of the Court, Mrs Silvana Arbia, notified the request to the Belgian authorities today. The Chamber also considered it necessary to issue a warrant of arrest replacing the warrant it issued on 23 May 2008. 

The warrant of arrest concerns the same events which occurred in the Central African Republic during the same period, that is, from 25 October 2002 to 15 March 2003, and adds to the crimes contained in the warrant of arrest of 23 May 2008 two new charges of murder, one as a crime against humanity and the other as a war crime. 

Thus Mr Bemba is allegedly criminally responsible, jointly with another person or through other persons, within the meaning of article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute, for: 

-     three counts of crimes against humanity: rape (article 7(1)(g)), torture (article 7(1)(f)), and murder (article 7(1)(a));

-     five counts of war crimes: rape (article 8(2)(e)(vi)), torture (article 8(2)(c)(i)), committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment (article 8(2)(c)(ii)), pillaging a town or place (article 8(2)(e)(v)), and murder (article 8(2)(c)(i)). 

Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, who is believed to be a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and aged about forty-five years, was arrested on 24 May 2008 by Belgian authorities following a provisional request for arrest and a warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court on 23 May 2008. 

Pre-Trial Chamber III is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that in the context of a protracted armed conflict in the Central African Republic, from 25 October 2002 to 15 March 2003, the forces of the MLC, under the leadership of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, carried out systematic or widespread attacks against the civilian population and committed murder, rape, torture, outrages upon personal dignity and pillaging, particularly in the localités known as PK 12 and PK 22, in the city of Bangui, and in the towns of Bossangoa, Mongoumba, Damara, and Bossembélé.  

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For further information, please contact Ms Sonia Robla, Head of the Public Information and Documentation Section at +31 (0)70 515-8089 or +31 (0)6 46 44 87 26 or at  sonia.robla@icc-cpi.int.

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