– Brutal rapes –
Numerous witnesses during the trial testified to a series of brutal murders and rapes by MLC soldiers, sent in to prop up Patasse against his arch-foe Francois Bozize.
Bozize eventually ousted Patasse and went on to rule Central African Republic for a decade, until he in turn was booted out in 2013, sparking further bloodshed.
After the events in CAR, Bemba, a wealthy businessman-turned-warlord, went on to become one of four vice presidents in the transitional government of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila.
In 2006, he lost to Kabila in a presidential poll. He fled the next year into what he called “forced exile” in Europe after his troops were routed by government forces, and was arrested in Brussels in 2008 and handed over to the ICC.
Bemba and four close associates are also on trial in a second case in which they are accused of bribing witnesses in his main trial.
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