A Brussels court has ruled that 93-year-old former diplomat Étienne Davignon should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 killing of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo. The court found sufficient grounds to charge Davignon with participation in war crimes, a decision that follows a surprise referral by the Brussels prosecutor last June and that can be appealed.
Davignon is the only surviving person named among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing. He has denied the allegations. If the trial goes ahead, he would be the first Belgian official to face criminal proceedings linked to Lumumba’s assassination.
The Lumumba family welcomed the ruling, saying it represents the start of a long-overdue reckoning rather than an end to their fight. A family spokesperson emphasized that the passage of time does not erase responsibility and called on the Belgian justice system to confront colonial-era abuses.
Lawyers for the family described the decision as a historic precedent for holding individuals accountable in relation to crimes allegedly committed under European colonial rule. The court also expanded the scope of the case beyond the prosecutor’s initial referral to include Lumumba’s associates Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, who were killed alongside him.
According to the Brussels court, Davignon faces three counts: the unlawful transfer of Lumumba and his associates from Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) to Katanga; the subjecting of the men to humiliating and degrading treatment; and depriving them of a fair trial. Christophe Marchand, one of the family’s lawyers, said the ruling confirms that long delays do not erase legal responsibility for the gravest crimes.
Lumumba, then 35, was tortured and executed by firing squad in January 1961 together with Okito and Mpolo. The killings were carried out by Katangan separatists with support from Belgian mercenaries. Davignon, who arrived in the former Belgian Congo in 1960 as a 28-year-old diplomatic intern, later held senior political and business positions, including a vice-presidency at the European Commission.
Davignon did not attend the hearing at the Palais de Justice in Brussels. His lawyer, Johan Verbist, said it was premature to comment and that he would study options for an appeal. Verbist previously argued during a closed hearing that too much time has passed to judge the case and rejected the war crimes allegations.
A 2001 Belgian parliamentary inquiry concluded that Belgian ministers bore moral responsibility for events that led to Lumumba’s death. In 2022 Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth to the Lumumba family that had been kept by a Belgian involved in the killings. At the handover ceremony, then-prime minister Alexander De Croo reiterated Belgium’s moral responsibility and said officials should have refused actions that placed Lumumba at risk.
Family lawyers say that if an appeal fails, a trial could begin in January 2027. Legal experts supporting the family note that successful criminal proceedings by a former colonial power against a state actor for a political murder from the colonial era would be rare and potentially groundbreaking.