THE HAGUE — War crimes judges on Monday found former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty of a deliberate campaign of widespread rapes and killings by his private army in Central African Republic (CAR) over a decade ago.In a landmark verdict, the judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Bemba guilty on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, saying he had retained "effective command and control" over the forces sent in to CAR to quell an attempted coup against the then president.It was the first case before the ICC to focus on sexual violence as a weapon of war, as well as to find a military commander to blame for the atrocities carried out by his forces even though he did not order them. The judges dismissed Bemba’s defence that his Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) had come under the control of CAR’s hierarchy, saying he "had knowledge" of what was happening on the ground, and failed to stop it.Once a feared rebel leader in the north ...
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