Belgian court sends ex-diplomat, 93, to trial over 1961 murder of Congo leader

A former Belgian diplomat, 93, should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a Brussels court has ruled.Étienne Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing, is charged with participation in war crimes.The decision, which follows a surprise referral by the Brussels prosecutor last June, can be appealed against. Davignon, a former vice-president of the European Commission, has denied the charges.Lumumba’s grandson, Mehdi Lumumba, told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that he was relieved to hear about the court’s decision. “Belgium is finally confronting its history,” he said.Lumumba was tortured and assassinated by firing squad in January 1961, alongside his associates Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo. The murders were carried out by separatists in the Katanga region with the support of Belgian mercenaries.Davignon had arrived in what was then Belgian Congo as a 28-year-old diplomatic intern on the eve of independence in 1960. The charges that the prosecutor outlined relate to his alleged role in Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer” and denial of a fair trial, as well as “humiliating and degrading treatment”. A charge of intent to kill was dismissed.Davignon, who went on to numerous senior political and business roles, was not present for the hearing at the Palais de Justice in Brussels, and his lawyers made no comment as they left.Davignon’s lawyer has been contacted for comment.His lawyer rejected claims of war crimes at a hearing behind closed doors in January and argued that reasonable time to judge the case had passed, according to sources cited in Belgian media.A 2001 parliamentary inquiry concluded that Belgian ministers bore a moral responsibility for the events that led to the Congolese leader’s gruesome death. Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth to the Lumumba family in 2022 that one of the Belgians involved in the killing had kept as a macabre souvenir.Belgium’s then prime minister, Alexander De Croo, reiterated his country’s “moral responsibility” for Lumumba’s murder at a ceremony to mark the return of the tooth.“Belgian ministers, diplomats, officials and officers had perhaps no intention to have Patrice Lumumba assassinated,” he said. “No evidence has been found to support this.“But they should have realised that his transfer to Katanga put his life in danger. They should have warned, they should have refused any assistance in transferring Patrice Lumumba to the place where he would be executed. Instead they chose not to see … not to act.”Speaking to the Guardian in 2025, Christophe Marchand, who represents Lumumba’s family, said the case was unusual among former colonial powers.“There are very few cases where a former colonial state accepts to address the colonial crimes and to consider that they have to be tried in that same colonial state, even if it’s a very long time after,” he said.