ICC Prosecutor seeks 25-year jail term for Bemba

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have called for a former Vice-President of the DRC, Jean Pierre-Bemba, to be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. 

This was after he was convicted of war crimes at a landmark trial at The Hague.

Bemba, 53, was convicted in March of failing to stop his rebels from killing and raping people in neighbouring Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.

He had sent more than one thousand fighters to the CAR to help put down an attempted coup.  

It was the first time the ICC focused on rape as a weapon of war, and the first time a suspect had been convicted over crimes committed by others under his command.


SOURCE: BBC news