PH
A former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo and his ex-lawyers have denied charges of bribing witnesses to give false testimony at his war crimes trial.
John-Pierre Bemba was charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with two of his ex-lawyers and an MP.
Prosecutors said the case was vital to protect the ICC’s integrity.
The alleged bribes were paid while he was in the court’s prison at The Hague, following his arrest in 2008.
“Mr Bemba directed a plan to see his acquittal through corrupted means,” chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told judges.
She added that witness testimony, phone and money transfer records, and logs from the court’s jail would prove her case.
In documents presented to the court, the prosecution alleged that his ex-trial lawyer Aime Kilolo discussed making payments with witnesses, Reuters news agency reports.
“This isn’t corruption,” Mr Kilolo is alleged to have told a witness. “Just a present from Mr Bemba because you agreed to testify in his favour.”
Prosecutors said that on another occasion Mr Kilolo told a colleague that “our white [colleague] mustn’t hear about this”, in apparent reference to Mr Bemba’s UK lawyer Peter Haynes, Reuters reports.
Mr Kilolo, lawyer Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, lawmaker Fidele Babala Wandu, and witness Narcisse Arido all deny the charges.
The accused, who are all DR Congo citizens, say that any payments made were intended to cover witnesses’ expenses and not to influence their testimony, Reuters reports.
Mr Bemba was living in Belgium when he was arrested in 2008 to stand trial at the ICC for fuelling conflict in DR Congo’s neighbour, the Central African Republic (CAR). He denies the charge.
Mr Bemba led a militia known as the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) during DR Congo’s brutal civil war.
The troops intervened in a power struggle in CAR in 2002 and 2003, and are accused of murdering and raping civilians.
After a peace deal in DR Congo in 2003, Mr Bemba laid down his arms and joined an interim government.
He lost a run-off election against President Joseph Kabila in 2006.
