Belgian prosecutors have announced their intention to prosecute a 92-year-old former diplomat, Etienne Davignon, over his alleged role in the 1961 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba.
Davignon stands accused of involvement in Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer” and his “humiliating and degrading treatment,” according to the prosecutor’s office. Davignon has yet to comment on the charges, but he has previously denied any wrongdoing.
The case was initiated in 2011 when Lumumba’s children filed a lawsuit in Belgium, seeking justice for their father’s death. Patrice Lumumba, aged 35 at the time, was executed by a firing squad shortly after Congo’s independence, with Belgium, the former colonial ruler, widely seen as complicit.
After his death, Lumumba’s body was gruesomely disposed of—dismembered and dissolved in acid. Only a gold-crowned tooth remained, which was returned to his family by Belgian authorities in 2022.
A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 acknowledged Belgium’s “moral responsibility” for Lumumba’s killing, prompting a formal apology the following year to both Lumumba’s family and the Congolese people.
Davignon is the last surviving member of a group of ten Belgians accused of complicity in Lumumba’s murder, according to AFP. At the time of the killing, Davignon was a young trainee diplomat. He later went on to become vice-president of the European Commission during the 1980s.
A magistrate will now determine whether Davignon should stand trial, with a hearing scheduled for January 2026.
Reacting to the development, Lumumba’s daughter Juliana told Belgian broadcaster RTBF: “We’re moving in the right direction. What we’re seeking is, first and foremost, the truth.”
Patrice Lumumba had become Congo’s first prime minister after the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960, but his time in office was short-lived as the country descended into political turmoil. He was dismissed from his post, placed under house arrest, and later recaptured after escaping.
His transfer to the breakaway Katanga province—encouraged by Belgian authorities—sealed his fate. He was beaten during his transport and, upon arrival, faced brutal treatment before being executed by firing squad on 17 January 1961, alongside two close allies.
The brutality of his assassination was compounded by the deliberate destruction of his remains. Belgian police commissioner Gerard Soete, who oversaw the disposal of Lumumba’s body, later admitted to retaining the gold-crowned tooth and described removing other remains, including fingers, which have never been recovered.
Lumumba’s fall from leadership to his brutal murder unfolded in less than seven months, during a period of severe instability, foreign interference, and internal power struggles in the newly independent Congo.
