Lumumba (centre), pictured here in 1960, was an outspoken critic of Belgium’s colonial rule – Copyright AFP –<\/p>\n
A 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat ordered to stand trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese independence icon Patrice Lumumba has appealed the decision, his lawmaker said Friday.<\/p>\n
A novice diplomat at the time, Etienne Davignon is the only person still alive among 10 Belgians accused by the Congolese leader\u2019s family of complicity in his murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Davignon has decided to lodge an appeal,\u201d lawyer Johan Verbist told AFP.<\/p>\n
Davignon was ordered earlier this month to stand trial for \u201cparticipation in war crimes\u201d over his role in the \u201cunlawful detention and transfer\u201d of Lumumba, considered a prisoner of war at the time, and for him being denied a fair trial.<\/p>\n
The one-time European commissioner is also accused of \u201chumiliating and degrading treatment\u201d, although not of direct involvement in Lumumba\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n
Lumumba, an outspoken critic of Belgium\u2019s colonial rule, became his country\u2019s first prime minister after it gained independence in 1960.<\/p>\n
But he fell out with the former colonial power and with the United States and was ousted in a coup a few months after\u00a0taking office.<\/p>\n
He was executed on January 17, 1961, aged just 35, in the southern region of Katanga, with the aid of Belgian mercenaries \u2014 and his body dissolved in acid.<\/p>\n
Should the trial go ahead, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face justice in the 65 years since Lumumba\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
A new closed\u2011door hearing will now pit the parties\u2019 lawyers against each other.<\/p>\n
If the court decision is upheld, Davignon\u2019s trial would take place at the earliest in January 2027, according to Christophe Marchand, lawyer for Lumumba\u2019s children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lumumba (centre), pictured here in 1960, was an outspoken critic of Belgium’s colonial rule – Copyright AFP –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,345,6128,6129,5276,4884,4873],"class_list":{"0":"post-8786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-diplomacy","10":"tag-drcongo","11":"tag-hide","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-homicide","14":"tag-trial"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116303364340518424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}