A former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo pleaded not guilty today at the International Criminal Court on charges he let his troops rape children, men and women in the Central African Republic.
Jean-Pierre Bemba is the most senior political leader to be detained so far by the court and is charged with two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes.
The 48-year-old is accused of leading troops into the Central African Republic between late 2002 and early 2003 at the invitation of Ange-Felix Patasse, the republic's president at the time, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to put down coup attempts.
"Mr Bemba has certainly understood this charge and pleads through me not guilty," Mr Bemba's lead defence lawyer Nkwebe Liriss said as each of the five charges was read aloud.
Prosecutors accuse Mr Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) forces of "widespread and systematic" attacks against civilians and say that Bemba, who had authority over these troops, failed to intervene.
"The MLC is the army of and owned by Jean-Pierre Bemba. Jean-Pierre Bemba created it, to make money and to make power ... and that is the point for us: you will not make money or power by committing atrocities. You will be jailed," chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said outside the court.
Mr Bemba was arrested in Belgium in 2008 and transferred to the ICC in The Hague in the Netherlands.
Reuters