The trial of Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba begins today at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is suspected of war crimes committed eight years ago in the Central African Republic. However, there are plenty of Congolese in Brussels who will tell you that their hero is a victim of a political conspiracy.

A visitor to Kumba community centre in the Congolese neighbourhood Matonge in the centre of Brussels says, “Bemba is a great politician, he is still very popular.”

Belgium, which was the colonial power in Congo up until 50 years ago, has a substantial Congolese population in its capital. The tables in the popular centre are littered with bottles of Jupiler beer. There are fierce discussions about the trial of rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, which starts today.

Free country
According to the ICC indictment, 48-year-old Bemba is suspected of murder, rape and looting. Nevertheless, the powerful and rich rebel leader is a hero to many people living in Matonge. In the 2006 elections, he stood against the incumbent president Joseph Kabila, who is regarded to be a totalitarian leader by Congolese migrants. One of the older visitors to the centre says: "Kabila has returned Congo to the dark times under the dictator Mobutu."

“Bemba supporters in Congo don’t dare to speak out because they do not feel safe. You can say what you like here, because Belgium is a free country,” says a young African student, who is writing an essay on her laptop. After fleeing wars in Africa’s Great Lakes Region, she started studying in Belgium.

One year after losing the 2006 presidential elections, Bemba fled the country. In 2008 he ended up in Brussels. Instead of being met by enthusiastic supporters, he was greeted by Belgian police with an international warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court. Since then he has been languishing in a cell in The Hague where, after two years of judicial wrangling, the trial is finally beginning.

The other warlords
His supporters are calling the trial “a political conspiracy” in which the international community has allowed itself to be misled by President Kabila and other political leaders in the Great Lakes Region.

“Why are they prosecuting Bemba at the tribunal and not all the other warlords? It is a very valid question. Bemba is still the only one in prison, but many more people should be prosecuted,” says Koen Vidal, Congo expert for the Belgian daily De Morgen, referring to other perpetrators of violence in the region.

But that is as far as his sympathy for the indignation among Bemba supporters goes, as the journalist is convinced of Bemba’s guilt. “Both in Congo and the Central African Republic, he led a military machine responsible for serious violations of human rights. In Africa, Koen Vidal spoke to the victims. “People who had lost limbs, men who were forced to watch while their wives were raped.”

Power and confidence
He also interviewed Bemba for an article. “He is a big man with air of power. He has huge self-confidence.”
The Hague tribunal is only trying Bemba for crimes committed in the Central African Republic. The court cannot prosecute him for the war crimes he committed in Congo, as they date from before the court’s statutes came into force (July 2002).

Mr Vidal hopes that the Bemba trial will finally draw attention to the humanitarian tragedy in the Great Lakes region. “The war in Congo is waged by dozens of different groups, they are all to blame.”

That’s a legal scenario the African student in the community centre would be satisfied with.

“The past of all politicians in the region should be scrutinised,” she says. “Many more should face justice, I hope that that will finally happen now.”