“En route to the land of my ancestors, my homeland,” Bemba said on Twitter during the night. A photo of the 55-year-old Bemba boarding a private jet in Belgium accompanied the tweet. Bemba had vowed to return to Kinshasa to file his election bid as candidates must physically be in the country to lodge their applications. The ICC overturned on appeal an initial 18-year term for war crimes and crimes against humanity for Bemba, who has spent a decade behind bars. Bemba, now a senator, had been in Belgium — the DRC’s former colonial power — since the ICC acquittal.

Source: The Guardian August 01, 2018 08:58 UTC