\n The family of murdered Congolese independence icon Patrice Lumumba said Tuesday they hope to get justice, as a Belgian court weighs prosecuting the sole surviving suspect over the 1961 killing.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lumumba's relatives have pushed for the past 15 years for what they say is a long-overdue legal reckoning over the complicity of Belgian officials in his murder.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We cannot turn back time... but we are counting on the Belgian justice system to do its job and shed light on history,\" Yema Lumumba, 33, a granddaughter of the late Congolese prime minister, told AFP outside a Brussels court, ahead of a closed-door hearing.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some 65 years after Lumumba was executed and his body dissolved in acid by separatists with the help of mercenaries from former colonial power Belgium, only one ex-official is still alive to face justice.\n<\/p>\n
\n That is 93-year-old Etienne Davignon, a one-time European commissioner, who was a novice Belgian diplomat at the time of Lumumba's killing.\n<\/p>\n
\n He is accused by Belgian federal prosecutors of involvement in the \"unlawful detention and transfer\" of Lumumba, as well as \"humiliating and degrading treatment\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Davignon has always denied Belgian authorities' involvement in the murder, and his lawyer declined to comment to AFP before Tuesday's hearing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is not about revenge, but about a thirst for knowledge,\" Roland Lumumba, one of Patrice's sons, told AFP by phone from Kinshasa last week.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Millions of people would like to know the truth.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Major colonial crimes' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The killing of Lumumba -- who became prime minister at independence in 1960 -- is one of the many dark chapters in the grim history of Belgian involvement in what became the modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo.\n<\/p>\n
\n His family says there was a \"vast conspiracy\" involving Belgian officials to eliminate the Congolese leader.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Refusing this trial would amount to definitively confirming the impunity for major colonial crimes,\" said Christophe Marchand, a lawyer for the family.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Brussels court heard arguments from all parties Tuesday before settling on whether to hold a trial.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lawyers for Lumumba's family said the hearing also provided the chance to file new civil lawsuits on behalf of about 10 of the former leader's grandchildren.\n<\/p>\n
\n Six were in court Tuesday, including Yema Lumumba.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Our parents are getting on in years. It's important for us to show that this fight continues,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mehdi Lumumba, another grandchild, said the consequences of this assassination \"still weigh on Congolese society,\" which he described as \"trapped in a vicious cycle of impunity\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He said his family represents \"a generation that still wants to believe the law can be upheld\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors said a decision on a trial was expected on March 17. If favourable, Marchand said he hopes it would then take place in early 2027.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Moral responsibility' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The Belgian probe into potential \"war crimes\" in the Congo has already led to one macabre discovery: one of Lumumba's teeth -- the only known remains of the assassinated leader.\n<\/p>\n
\n The tooth was seized from the daughter of a deceased Belgian police officer who had been involved in the disappearance of the body.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was returned to DRC authorities in a coffin during an official ceremony in 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the handover, then Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the government's \"apologies\" for its \"moral responsibility\" in Lumumba's disappearance.\n<\/p>\n
\n De Croo pointed the finger at Belgian officials who at the time \"chose not to see\" and \"not to act\".\n<\/p>\n
\n After entering the diplomatic service in 1959, Davignon rose through the ranks after his early involvement in Congolese independence talks.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the early 1980s, he gained more prominence when he was named a vice-president in charge of industry of the European Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The family of murdered Congolese independence icon Patrice Lumumba said Tuesday they hope to get justice, as a Belgian court weighs prosecuting the sole surviving suspect over the 1961 killing. Lumumba's relatives have pushed for the past 15 years for what they say is a long-overdue legal reckoning over the complicity of Belgian officials in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-154504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n