Pre-Trial Chamber II commits Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo to trial

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

Today, 15 June 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court confirmed some of the charges brought by the Prosecutor against Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo for crimes committed on the territory of the Central African Republic from on or about 26 October 2002 to 15 March 2003.

Pre-Trial Chamber II found that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is criminally responsible as a person effectively acting as military commander within the meaning of article 28(a) of the Statute for:

(i) murder constituting a crime against humanity (count 7) within the meaning of article 7(1)(a) of the Statute;

(ii) rape constituting a crime against humanity (count 1) within the meaning of article 7(1)(g) of the Statute;

(iii) murder constituting a war crime (count 6) within the meaning of article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Statute;

(iv) rape constituting a war crime (count 2) within the meaning of article 8(2)(e)(vi) of the Statute; and

(v) pillaging constituting a war crime (count 8) within the meaning of article 8(2)(e)(v) of the Statute.

Pre-Trial Chamber II further determined that there was not sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo had the necessary criminal intent within the meaning of article 30 of the Statute to be individually criminally responsible as a co-perpetrator for the crimes against humanity and war crimes as referred to in the Prosecutor’s amended Document Containing the Charges, which he allegedly committed jointly with Ange-Félix Patassé using MLC troops.

Pre-Trial Chamber II also declined to confirm that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is criminally responsible for the crimes within the meaning of article 28(a) of the Statute for:

 

(i) torture constituting a crime against humanity (count 3) within the meaning of article 7(l)(f) of the Statute;

 

(ii) torture constituting a war crime (count 4) within the meaning of article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Statute;

 

(iii) outrages upon personal dignity constituting a war crime (count 5) within the meaning of article 8(2)(c)(ii) of the Statute;

Pre-Trial Chamber II therefore referred the case for trial before a Trial Chamber, whose bench will be announced by the Presidency of the Court.

Context

The confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo took place before Pre-Trial Chamber II, from 12 to 15 January 2009, in The Hague.

Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), President and Commander-in-Chief of the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC), was arrested on 24 May 2008, by the Belgian authorities following the Court's warrant of arrest. He was surrendered and transferred to the International Criminal Court on 3 July.

According to the Prosecution, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo was allegedly criminally responsible, jointly with another person or through other persons, for five counts of war crimes (rape, torture, committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, pillaging a town or place, and murder) and three counts of crimes against humanity (rape, torture and murder), committed on the territory of the Central African Republic from on or about 26 October 2002 to 15 March 2003.

In the decision of 3 March 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber II decided to adjourn the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo and asked the Prosecutor to consider submitting an amended document containing the charges. In the same decision of 3 March 2009, the Chamber indicated that the evidence submitted by the Prosecutor appeared to establish that a different crime, within the jurisdiction of the Court, was committed. The judges considered, without any predetermination on the alleged individual criminal responsibility of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (article 25 of the Statute), that the legal characterisation of the facts of the case may amount to a different type of responsibility, namely the criminal liability as a commander or superior (article 28 of the Statute). Therefore, the judges requested the Prosecutor to consider submitting no later than 30 March 2009 a document amending the charges, in order to address this issue.

The Prosecutor submitted the Amended Document Containing the Charges on 30 March 2009, while the Defence responded on 24 April 2009.

Decision Pursuant to Article 61(7)(a) and (b) of the Rome Statute on the Charges of the Prosecutor Against Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo

Prosecution's Submission of Amended Document Containing the Charges, Amended List of Evidence and Amended In-Depth Analysis Chart of Incriminatory Evidence