THE HAGUE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo was provisionally released in Belgium, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Friday, one week after he was acquitted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in appeal.
The release in Belgium, with which the Court in The Hague has an agreement on the interim release of detainees, comes after the ICC appeals chamber decided to acquit Bemba from the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Second Congo War. Since Bemba was also convicted in another case he was only provisionally released.
Bemba, one of the four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from July 2003 to December 2006, was arrested by the Belgian authorities on May 24, 2008, pursuant to an ICC arrest warrant, and surrendered to the ICC on June 3, 2008. His trial started in November, 2010.
In June 2016, Bemba was sentenced to a sentence of 18 years imprisonment by the trial chamber of the ICC. He was convicted for crimes committed in Congo's neighboring country Central African Republic between October 26, 2002 to March 15, 2003 by a contingent of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo. According to the judgment Bemba was a military commander with effective authority and control over the forces that committed the crimes.
Last Friday the appeals chamber concluded that the trial chamber had erred in that judgment and acquitted Bemba. According to the appeals chamber Bemba was erroneously convicted for specific criminal acts that were outside the scope of the charges.
Due to the fact that he was also convicted in a second case before the ICC, Bemba had to wait for his release. In that second case, last year Bemba was convicted to one year imprisonment for intentionally corruptly influencing witnesses and soliciting false testimonies of defense witnesses.
This one-year sentence has already been reversed in appeal and sent back to the trial chamber for new determination, which is still pending.
The trial chamber ordered the interim release for Bemba on Tuesday this week because it found that the legal requirements for continued detention were not met, since Bemba has served more than 80 percent of the maximum sentence already and considered it disproportionate to further detain Bemba only to ensure his appearance for the final determination of his sentence.
Bemba's release came with specific conditions. He has according to the ICC to refrain from making public statements on this case, not to change address without prior notice, not to contact any witness in this case, to fully comply with all orders issued in the case, and to surrender immediately to the relevant authorities if required by the trial chamber.
