By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A former top Belgian diplomat, Etienne Davignon, has filed an appeal, challenging a court decision ordering him to stand trial over the assassination of Congo’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba in 1961, his lawyers said on Friday.
Davignon, 93, a former vice-president of the European Commission, was on March 17 ordered by a Belgian court to face prosecution over his alleged involvement in Lumumba’s killing 65 years ago.
Davignon’s lawyers apart from confirming the appeal made no further comment on the case.
Prosecutors say Davignon, who was a junior diplomat at the time, participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba and deprived him of his right to fair trial.
Among all Belgian officials accused of a role in the murder, Davignon is the only surviving suspect.
Lumumba, who became Prime Minister of the East African country now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo upon its independence from Belgium in 1960, was ousted from power just months later and killed by Belgian-backed secessionist rebels on January 16, 1961.
A Belgian parliamentary investigation into Lumumba’s killing concluded in 2002 indicated that Belgium was “morally responsible” for his death.
The trial of Davignon constitutes the first prosecution related to the murder, in what could be the final opportunity to seek justice for one of the most contentious episodes in Belgium’s colonial history.
Though his government lasted just three months, Lumumba became an anti-colonial icon as African nations pushed for independence from their European masters in the 1960s.
