ICC castigates Congolese ex-VP for corrupting war-crimes trial witnesses
The Hague — International judges found former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba and four aides guilty on Wednesday of corrupting witnesses, bribing them with money and laptops to lie in testifying at his war crimes trial. The case was "about clear, and downright criminal behaviour of the five accused ... that resulted in serious offences against the administration of justice," Judge Bertram Schmitt said in handing down the verdict at the International Criminal Court. "No legal system in the world can accept the bribing of witnesses, the inducement of witnesses to lie or the coaching of witnesses. Today’s judgment sends a clear message that the court is not willing to allow its proceedings to be hampered or destroyed. "The chamber finds you guilty." Bemba, vice-president in a transitional government from 2003 to 2006, was sentenced in June to 18 years in prison, becoming the highest-ranking politician to be convicted by the ICC. The son of a wealthy businessmen with close ti...
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