An attorney for 93-year-old Etienne Davignon, a Belgian national and former vice president of the European Commission, told reporters on Friday that his client has filed an appeal against court’s ruling requiring him to stand trial for the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo.
Davignon’s attorney confirmed his client’s appeal but said nothing more about the matter.
On March 17, a Belgian judge mandated that Davignon be prosecuted for his claimed role in the 65-year-old murder of Lumumba.
Davignon, a junior diplomat at the time, is accused by the prosecution of participating in Lumumba’s illegal detention or transfer and of depriving him of his right to a fair trial.
The former Belgian diplomat is the only remaining suspect among the Belgian authorities charged with a part in the murder.
After Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, Lumumba was appointed prime minister. However, he was overthrown a few months later and assassinated on January 16, 1961, by secessionist rebels supported by Belgium.
In 2002, a Belgian parliamentary investigation following Lumumba’s murder found that Belgium was “morally responsible” for his demise. However, Davignon’s trial is the first murder-related case, and it may be the only chance to hold someone accountable for one of the most controversial incidents in Belgium’s colonial past.
As African countries fought for independence from their European overlords in the 1960s, Lumumba emerged as an anti-colonial figure despite his brief three-month rule.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah