The global court on Friday overturned Bemba's war crimes conviction and 18-year prison sentence for alleged atrocities carried out by troops under his control in neighboring Central African Republic in 2002-2003, meaning he could be released in a matter of days. Presiding judge Christine Van den Wijngaert said on Friday that Bemba could not be held responsible for atrocities carried out by troops under his control in the neighbouring Central African Republic, and that trial judges had failed to consider the efforts he made to stop crimes once he became aware of them. Having considered all written submissions of the parties and participants and the oral observations made during the appeal hearings held in January 2018, the Appeals Chamber found, by majority, that Trial Chamber III had erred on two important issues:
• None It had erroneously convicted Mr Bemba for specific criminal acts that were outside the scope of the charges as confirmed; and
• None In its assessment of whether Mr Bemba took all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent, repress or punish the commission by his subordinates of the other crimes within the scope of the case, the Trial Chamber made serious errors. The Appeals Chamber's Judgment reversed Trial Chamber III's decision of 21 March 2016, which had concluded that, as a person effectively acting as a military commander and with effective control over the Mouvement de libération du Congo ("MLC") troops, Mr Bemba was criminally responsible pursuant to article 28(a) of the ICC Rome Statute for the crimes against humanity of murder and rape and the war crimes of murder, rape and pillaging committed by the MLC troops in the Central African Republic ("CAR") from on or about 26 October 2002 to 15 March 2003. Bemba nevertheless remains behind bars in a separate case in which he was sentenced to one year in jail for bribing witnesses and fined €300,000 (£264,000) during his main war crimes trial. Van den Wyngaert said Bemba would not immediately be released because a separate panel of ICC judges is still considering what sentence he should be given in a conviction for interfering with witnesses in his trial. Bemba, a former Congolese senator and vice president, was the commander of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo when he was asked in 2002 and 2003 to send troops by President Ange-Felix Patasse in neighboring Central African Republic, or CAR.
Jean-Pierre Bemba is acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court appeals chamber.