A Brussels court has ordered that 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat and ex-European Commissioner Etienne Davignon stand trial over the 1961 assassination of Congo's first prime minister and anti-colonial icon, Patrice Lumumba. This marks the first trial directly related to Lumumba's death, coming decades after the crime that has long haunted Belgium's colonial legacy.
Lumumba became prime minister of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) upon its independence from Belgium on June 24, 1960, but was ousted in September of that year and later killed by a Belgian-backed secessionist rebel group on January 16, 1961. A 2002 parliamentary inquiry found Belgium "morally responsible" for Lumumba's death, but no legal action followed until now.
Davignon is accused of involvement in the murders of Lumumba and his political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, and faces charges of war crimes. Prosecutors allege he participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba, deprived him of his right to a fair trial, and subjected him to "humiliating and degrading treatment." The trial represents a rare legal reckoning for Belgium's colonial-era actions in Africa.
If the trial proceeds, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face court in 65 years since the prime minister was killed and his body dissolved in acid. While 10 people were accused of complicity in Lumumba's murder, Davignon is the only surviving suspect, highlighting the delayed pursuit of justice in this historic case.
The case was brought by Lumumba's family members and later taken up by Belgian federal prosecutors. Lumumba's granddaughter, Yema Lumumba, told Reuters after the ruling that it was a "step in the right direction," adding, "What we want is to search for truth and establish different responsibilities." The family's lawyer, Christophe Marchand, told AFP it was a "gigantic victory," noting, "No one believed when we first brought the case in 2011 that Belgium would prove capable of seriously investigating this. It's very hard for a country to judge its own colonial crimes."
As African nations pushed for independence from European rulers in the 1960s, Lumumba emerged as an anti-colonial hero, though his government lasted only three months. At age 35, he was executed in the southern Katanga region with the support of Belgian-backed mercenaries, a killing that symbolized the violent suppression of post-colonial movements.
The only known remains of the slain leader—a single gold-capped tooth—were retrieved from the daughter of a deceased Belgian officer involved in disposing of his body. In a 2022 ceremony, the remains were returned in a coffin to DRC authorities. During the handover, then-Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the government's "apologies" for its "moral responsibility" in Lumumba's disappearance, though legal accountability had remained elusive until this trial order.
Source: www.aljazeera.com