DRC Rebel Leader Bemba Transferred to Hague Court
By VOA News
03 July 2008
Officials with the International Criminal Court say former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has been transferred to the Hague to face war crimes charges.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says Bemba was transferred Thursday to a jail in the Netherlands from Belgium where he was arrested May 24 on an ICC warrant.
The court says Bemba's forces attacked civilians and committed acts of rape, torture, and pillaging in the Central African Republic during 2002 and 2003.
CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse had invited Bemba's group into the country to help put down a coup attempt.
Bemba served as one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's four vice presidents following the end of the country's civil war in 2003. He ran for president in 2006, coming in second behind incumbent Joseph Kabila.
Bemba left the DRC for Portugal in April 2007 after clashes between his militia and government troops killed more than 200 people.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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