Etienne Davignon, 93, is the one one alive amongst 10 Belgians accused by the Congolese chief’s household of complicity.
Revealed On 17 Mar 2026
A 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat has been ordered by a Brussels courtroom to face trial over the assassination of Congo’s first prime minister and anti-colonial icon, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961.
Lumumba, who grew to become the prime minister of the nation – now referred to as the Democratic Republic of Congo – upon its independence from Belgium on June 24, 1960, was ousted in September of the identical yr and later killed by a Belgian-backed secessionist insurgent group simply months afterward January 16, 1961.
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However in 2002, a parliamentary investigation discovered that Belgium was “morally accountable” for Lumumba’s death.
On Tuesday, Etienne Davignon, 93, a former European commissioner who was a junior diplomat on the time, stands trial over his dying, marking the primary trial associated to the homicide of Lumumba.
He’s additionally accused of being concerned within the homicide of Lumumba’s political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.
In keeping with prosecutors, Davignon, who’s accused of battle crimes, had participated within the illegal detention or switch of Lumumba and disadvantaged him of his proper to an neutral trial.
Prosecutors added that Davignon had subjected Lumumba to “humiliating and degrading remedy”.
If the trial goes forward, Davignon can be the primary Belgian official to face the courts in 65 years for the reason that prime minister was killed and his physique was dissolved in acid.
Whereas 10 individuals have been accused of being complicit within the homicide of Lumumba, Davignon is the one suspect alive.
Lumumba’s members of the family introduced the case, which Belgian federal prosecutors have since taken up.
His granddaughter Yema Lumumba instructed the Reuters information company after the ruling that it was a “step in the suitable course”.
“What we would like is to seek for reality and set up totally different duties,” she added.
The household’s lawyer, Christophe Marchand, additionally instructed the AFP information company that “It’s a huge victory”.
“Nobody believed once we first introduced the case in 2011 that Belgium would show able to significantly investigating this,” he mentioned, including: “It’s very laborious for a rustic to guage its personal colonial crimes.”
Gold-capped tooth
As African international locations pushed for independence from their European rulers within the Sixties, Lumumba rose as an anti-colonial hero, although his authorities lasted solely three months.
At simply aged 35, Lumumba was executed within the southern area of Katanga, with the help of Belgian-backed mercenaries.
The one recognized stays of the killed chief, a single gold-capped tooth, have been taken from the daughter of a deceased Belgian officer who was concerned within the disappearance of his stays.
Throughout a ceremony in 2022, his stays have been returned in a coffin to DRC’s authorities.
Through the handover, then Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the federal government’s “apologies” for its “ethical duty” in Lumumba’s disappearance.
