17.3.2026
A court in Brussels Tuesday ordered the trial of a former high-profile Belgian diplomat Count Etienne Davignon, for the assassination of Congo DR’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.
Lumumba was ousted and tortured to death by rebels backed by Belgium diplomats on January 16, 1961, three months after his country gained Independence from Belgium.
A Belgian parliamentary investigation into Lumumba’s killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was “morally responsible” for his death. But the trial of 93-year-old Count Davignon, a former EU Commissioner who was a junior diplomat at the time, constitutes the first prosecution related to the murder.
Prosecutors say Davignon, who is accused of war crimes, participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba and deprived him of his right to an impartial trial. They say he subjected Lumumba to “humiliating and degrading treatment”.
He is also accused of involvement in the murders of two of Lumumba’s political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.
All the other suspects in the case have died.
Davignon was not present in the courtroom on Tuesday, and his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lumumba remained a hero in Congo DR though his reign was short-lived.
His murder marked a dark turn for Congo, which boasts vast mineral resources including copper, cobalt, gold and uranium but whose people have lived under dictatorship and the menace of deadly armed conflict for most of its post-independence history.
With Reuters reports