Fmr. D.R. Congo V.P Jean-Pierre Bemba Sentenced For Bribing Witness

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have added a year to Jean-Pierre Bemba’s 18-year jail term following the former Congolese vice president’s conviction for attempting to bribe witnesses during his war crimes trial.

After a second trial on the separate charges, Bemba on Wednesday was also ordered to pay a 300,000 euro ($323,670) fine to the court’s fund supporting victims of atrocities.

Found guilty last year of bribery, the verdict and sentence are the first of their kind in the history of the ICC.

The decision to bring bribery charges against Bemba and four members of his legal team was seen by criminal law experts as a sign that prosecutors had decided to get tough on a practice that threatened their ability to prosecute the gravest crimes.



Credit: Aljazeera