"I come to seek refuge in the Netherlands, because I want to get some rest and regain my strength. But I intend to go back to the Democratic Republic of Congo," Sylvestre Bwira, a Congolese human rights activist, told RNW just a few days after his escape to the Netherlands.

He managed to flee the DRC after being detained and, he says, tortured by the security forces. He's also received death threats. But despite the assassination of another leading Congolese activist Floribert Chebeya a few months ago, he says the fight for democracy must continue.

"My country is going through its hardest period. We keep switching between democracy and dictatorship. We are in a post-conflict country. But there is a latent conflict which continues to blight the DRC. The conclusion is that the dictatorship and everything that got us in such a poor state of governance is generated at a certain level in the central government."

An open letter he sent to President Joseph Kabila led to his persecution, says Mr Bwira. The letter denounced the actions of the military and armed gangs who terrorise the region of Masisi in North Kivu, in eastern DRC.

"In this letter I asked that the soldiers from armed groups be relocated, that all who are wanted by the ICC (International Criminal Court) be transferred to that court. This would include someone like Bosco Ntaganda. And I cited many other names in this letter. "

After the publication of his letter, Sylvestre Bwira was kidnapped and imprisoned by the FARDC, the Congolese armed forces. According to the activist, he was injected with toxic chemicals and a range of drugs during his detention.

"The dungeon was traumatising. There were bodies and human remains everywhere. Some of the corpses were bloated and on the point of bursting. I slept on human bones."

He managed to escape with the support of civil society activists in North Kivu. Using false papers and with the help of MONUSCO (the UN Mission for Stabilisation of the Congo), he was able to return to the capital Kinshasa. After receiving medical care, accomplices helped him escape to the Netherlands.

"All you need is a bribe and the rest is taken care of. Everything and anything can pass through the borders. There is no airport, no security whatsoever."

For Sylvestre Bwira, the choice of the Netherlands as a refuge was deliberate. "It is a country of human rights and where the ICC is. A country that plays an important role in the DRC, particularly in the east where I'm from. "

Former Congolese vice-president Jean- Pierre Bemba is currently facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Mr Bwira is a strong supporter of the ICC's role, "democracy should be founded only on justice. So the ICC should deliver in Jean Pierre Bemba's trial."

But he stresses that the Bemba trial is only the beginning. There are other, even more prominent figures who should be charged for their role in the violence that has torn his country apart.

"Bemba sent his troops to the Central African Republic to rescue former President Ange Felix Patasse. These troops have committed atrocities against civilians."

Consequently, he says, Patasse must also be tried by the ICC - just like Bemba.