Victims ask ICC judges to jail Bemba for 30 years

Victims of atrocity crimes have asked the International Criminal Court to hand warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba the maximum 30 years jail sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Two victims testifying at the sentencing hearing recalled the effect that the sexual violence they suffered under Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo troops continued to have on their lives. A young woman who was abducted with her father, sexually abused and taken into sexual slavery for four years in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told the ICC judges that her neighbours in her Central African Republic home continue to talk about her and her experiences after her return home. Another victim said he had lost hope in life after he found out that he had been infected with HIV after his rape. ICC Prosecutor had asked the judges to jail Bemba for 25 year, a sentence she said would be proportionate to the conviction for pillage, looting and rape crimes committed by the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo militia. Bemba was convicted in March this year for war crimes and crimes against humanity after judges found that he failed to take steps to punish misonduct on the part of his soliers. His lawyers have argued for a lenient sentence since he did not personally commit any crimes.Bishop Fridolin Ambongo, head of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in CAR testified for the Bemba defence, saying that the MLC had protected civilian populations and restored normalcy in the country. Read more on: