Etienne Davignon, 93, is the one one alive amongst 10 Belgians accused by the Congolese chief’s household of complicity.
Printed 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 often called 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 demise, 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 response to prosecutors, Davignon, who’s accused of warfare 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 relations 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 precise course”.
“What we would like is to seek for reality and set up totally different tasks,” she added.
The household’s lawyer, Christophe Marchand, additionally instructed the AFP information company that “It’s a huge victory”.
“Nobody believed after we first introduced the case in 2011 that Belgium would show able to severely investigating this,” he mentioned, including: “It’s very arduous for a rustic to guage its personal colonial crimes.”
Gold-capped tooth
As African nations 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 assist 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.
Throughout the handover, then Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the federal government’s “apologies” for its “ethical duty” in Lumumba’s disappearance.
