Sixty-five years after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, it is one of the major figures in the world of Belgian business and gotha that is questioned for its possible participation in this tragic episode of decolonization of Congo. Count Etienne Davignon, 92, could be sent back to a criminal court if the Brussels council chamber followed, in January 2026, the requisitions made public on Tuesday, June 17 by the federal prosecution.
The latter considers that the ex-diplomat could be involved in the death of the former first head of government of the Congo in 1961. The public prosecutor asked for his referral to “Illicit detention and transfer” of Mr. Lumumba as he was taken prisoner, and for “Humiliating and degrading treatments”. The incrimination of“Intention to kill” however, was not retained.
A decision to return, or not, of Mr. Davignon will be the new episode of a long judicial soap opera which started in 2011 when François Lumumba, the eldest son of the former charismatic leader of the Congolese National Movement (MNC), filed a complaint before Brussels justice. The complaint for war crimes, inhuman tortures and treatments aimed “Various administrations of the Belgian State” and their participation in “A vast plot for the political and physical elimination of Patrice Lumumba”. Ten Belgian citizens, intelligence agents, soldiers and diplomats, were cited. Mr. Davignon, is the only one to be still alive. At the age of 27, he had exercised functions in Congo for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Source: Lemonde