Bemba has already lost an earlier appeal, but Taylor said Bemba had a right to make a fresh challenge as Monday's decision was by lower trial judges, and not the ICC's higher appeals chamber. The International Criminal Court on Monday confirmed a one-year sentence and 300,000-euro ($350,000) fine against Bemba for tampering with witnesses in his main trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. By AFPMore by this AuthorTEH HAGUE,Congolese ex-vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba will appeal his sentence for bribing war crimes witnesses and hopes to overturn his conviction in a case which has barred him from elections, his lawyer said Wednesday. But the Congolese election commission has since excluded Bemba from December elections because of the the conviction for bribery, corruption and coaching 14 defence witnesses during his main war crimes trial. The appeals judges also sent the case back to trial judges for re-sentencing as they said the original penalties were too low, but the trial judges reconfirmed their earlier sentences on Monday.

Source: Daily Nation September 19, 2018 16:18 UTC