ICC sentences former Congo Vice President Bemba to 18 years in prison

The International Criminal Court has handed an 18-year prison sentence to former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. He was convicted in March over war crimes committed more than 10 years ago.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was sentenced on Tuesday by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to 18 years in jail for crimes committed by soldiers who were under his command in Central African Republic over a decade ago.

"The chamber sentences Mr. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo to a total of 18 years' imprisonment," said judge Sylvia Steiner, ruling that his soldiers had carried out "sadistic" rapes, murders and pillaging of "particular cruelty."

ICC prosecutors had urged that Bemba be imprisoned for at least 25 years, saying such a sentence would be justified by "the gravity of the offences committed by Mr. Bemba and his degree of culpability."

Bemba's lawyers, for their part, had called for him to be released, pointing out that he had already spent eight years in jail before and during his trial.

The trial opened in November 2010.

DW