Former Vice President Jailed For Murder And Rape

The former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for numerous acts of murder, rape and pillage.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was one of four VPs in a transitional government between 2003 and 2006, was accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of carrying out a range of crimes in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR).

Before taking up his government role, he was the commander of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) and was asked in 2002 and 2003 to send troops into CAR.

The President of CAR at the time, Ange-Felix Patasse, wanted the troops to help him out during a civil war.

In March, Bemba became the first person to be convicted by the court of crimes of sexual violence in war, as well as the first to be held directly responsible for crimes carried out by those under his command.

The court heard how his militia carried out mass murder, widespread rape and looting to "traumatise and terrorise" people in the CAR.

Prosecutor Petra Kneuer told a preliminary hearing he chose "rape as his main method", the Guardian reported.

Prosecutors told the court that Bemba: "Knew that the troops were committing crimes and did not take all necessary and reasonable measures within his power to prevent or repress their commission."

One victim had described how, while still a virgin, she had been raped in front of her father while other soldiers held the father at gunpoint.

During the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) 1998-2002 civil war, Bemba's MLC controlled large parts of the country's north-east.

At least 2.7 million people are thought to have died as an indirect consequence of the war, studies have claimed.

The transition government Bemba was a member of was part of a peace process that paved the way for later elections.

ICC presiding judge Sylvia Steiner ruled that the former militia leader had failed to exercise control over his private army, which went on to carry out "sadistic" crimes of "particular cruelty."

She said that "after the attacks, some parents found their daughters lying on the ground crying and bleeding" from inside, and that victims had been "particularly defenceless".

In sentencing, judge Steiner gave him credit for the eight years he has already spent in ICC detention since his arrest in Belgium in May 2008.

The MLC is still a large opposition party in CAR and Bemba retains significant support in the West. He is able to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Eve Bazaiba, secretary general of Bemba's MLC party, criticised the court's ruling, saying:  "We will continue and we will never cease denouncing the selective justice of the ICC."