{"id":66410,"date":"2016-03-22T01:04:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T23:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/jean-pierre-bemba-convicted-of-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes-in-a-landmark-verdict\/"},"modified":"2016-03-22T01:04:55","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T23:04:55","slug":"jean-pierre-bemba-convicted-of-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes-in-a-landmark-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/jean-pierre-bemba-convicted-of-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes-in-a-landmark-verdict\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean-Pierre Bemba convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes in a landmark verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span dir=\"ltr\"> PARIS, France, March 21, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ &#8212; <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Today, the Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, for crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003. Our organisations strongly welcome this historical verdict at the ICC which for the first time convicts an accused, as superior, for rape and emphasise the great achievement it represents for thousands of victims who have longed for justice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBemba\u2019s conviction sends a powerful message that the perpetrators of international crimes, irrespective of their political functions, cannot be shielded from justice and will be held accountable for their crimes.\u201d said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Pierre Bemba was found guilty of rape, murder and pillage in his capacity as military commander of the Mouvement de Lib\u00e9ration du Congo. The significance of this verdict derives from two important precedents it has established. First, it is the first case at the ICC to focus heavily on crimes of sexual violence, including rape, as a war crime and a crime against humanity. Crimes of sexual violence against women, men, and children were used as a means to terrorise CAR civilian population. Secondly, the judges held an accused criminally responsible as a military commander for crimes committed by troops under his control for the first time at the ICC.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The paramount importance of this verdict cannot be overstated -. It is a landmark along the road to justice for victims of crimes of sexual violence as it is the first conviction of this kind in the ICC. This trial contributed to raising the awareness about the consequences of these atrocious crimes on victims and their lives.\u201d said Andr\u00e9 Olivier Manguereka, LCDH President.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2002, FIDH and its member organisations have regularly documented the crimes committed in CAR, supporting victims to access justice and the ICC by submitting communications to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, highlighting the gravity of the crimes and the State`s unwillingness and inability to investigate and prosecute them. The elements of evidence submitted by FIDH were relied upon by the Office of the Prosecutor, legal representatives of victims and the judges, including it their judgement, and were ultimately important in proving the crimes and the role of Jean-Pierre Bemba in this case.<\/p>\n<p>The new Central African authorities and the international community must continue to support accountability mechanisms for international crimes being committed in CAR.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is of foremost importance to establish the Special Court without further delays and to continue to support the ICC in its second and ongoing investigation on the crimes committed since 2014.\u201d added Karim Lahibdji, FIDH President.<\/p>\n<p>The defence has 30 days to appeal the judgment. The Trial Chamber will now determine an appropriate sentence and decide on reparations for victims which include restitution, compensation and rehabilitation. Our organisations call upon all States Parties to contribute to the ICC Trust Fund for Victims and cooperate with the Court in ensuring that victims receive adequate and comprehensive reparations to which they are entitled after suffering of such grave crimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PARIS, France, March 21, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ &#8212; Today, the Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, for crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003. Our organisations strongly welcome this historical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-66410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}