Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo was born on 4 November 1962 and is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
31 Facts About Jean-Pierre Bemba
2.
Jean-Pierre Bemba has served as the DRC's Vice Prime Minister and defence minister since 2023.
3.
Jean-Pierre Bemba was previously one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2006.
4.
Jean-Pierre Bemba led the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, a rebel group turned political party.
5.
Jean-Pierre Bemba received the second-highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election.
6.
In 2008, during a trip to Europe, Bemba was arrested on International Criminal Court charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
7.
Jean-Pierre Bemba spent the following 10 years in prison at The Hague, The Netherlands; 8 years awaiting trial and verdict, then 2 more years after conviction in 2016.
8.
The court ruled that because the Rome Statute which sets the court's rules do not limit the amount of time a person can spend in prison awaiting trial, Jean-Pierre Bemba was not entitled to compensation.
9.
In 2018, Jean-Pierre Bemba returned to the DRC where he has since been active in national politics.
10.
Jean-Pierre Bemba's father, Jeannot Bemba Saolona, was a businessman who was successful under Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko, and one of his sisters is married to Mobutu's son Nzanga, who was a candidate in the 2006 presidential election.
11.
Jean-Pierre Bemba attended boarding school in Brussels and later studied economics at the ICHEC Brussels Management School.
12.
Jean-Pierre Bemba was one of 33 candidates who ran in the Congolese presidential election on 30 July 2006.
13.
Jean-Pierre Bemba received substantial support in the western, Lingala-speaking portion of the country, including the capital, Kinshasa.
14.
On 21 August 2006, while accompanied by 14 ambassadors of CIAT members, including ambassadors from the United States of America, The UK, France and Belgium, and from MONUC, US diplomat William L Swing, Bemba survived an assassination attempt by the Presidential Guard bombing his residence in Gombe.
15.
On 27 November 2006, the Supreme Court of the DRC rejected the fraud charges brought by Jean-Pierre Bemba, and confirmed Kabila as the new elected Congolese President.
16.
On 8 December, the MLC announced that Jean-Pierre Bemba would run for a Senate seat from Kinshasa in the January 2007 senatorial election, and he succeeded in winning a seat.
17.
Jean-Pierre Bemba called for a ceasefire and negotiations and took refuge in the South African embassy.
18.
Jean-Pierre Bemba warned of a potential for dictatorship and foreshadowed his retreat into exile, citing security concerns.
19.
Late in the month it was reported that Jean-Pierre Bemba planned to travel to Portugal for treatment of a broken leg; he had already received treatment for his leg there in previous months.
20.
Jean-Pierre Bemba was handed over to the ICC on 3 July 2008 and transferred to its detention centre in the Hague.
21.
Jean-Pierre Bemba was the only person arrested in connection with the ICC's investigation in the Central African Republic.
22.
The trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba began on 22 November 2010 and lasted four years.
23.
On 28 September 2016, Jean-Pierre Bemba served the ICC appeals chamber with an appeal against his 18-year conviction citing numerous procedural and legal errors in the judgment, and alleging a mistrial.
24.
The appeal centered on whether Jean-Pierre Bemba had a fair trial, with concerns about the need for greater specificity in criminal charges.
25.
Jean-Pierre Bemba said he cannot be held responsible for the actions of his men, and that the lower court "ignored significant testimonial evidence that Bemba's ability to investigate and punish crimes in the CAR was limited".
26.
The court ruled that because the Rome Statute which sets the court's rules do not limit the amount of time a person can spend in prison awaiting trial, Jean-Pierre Bemba was not entitled to compensation.
27.
On 4 May 2017 Jean-Pierre Bemba had filed an appeal against his conviction for interfering with witnesses, alleging factual and legal errors on the part of the trial chamber and illegal investigative activity by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor.
28.
On 1 August 2018, Jean-Pierre Bemba returned to the DRC after 11 years of exile and imprisonment.
29.
Jean-Pierre Bemba attempted to run for President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 2018 election, and was considered by some to be the strongest opposition candidate.
30.
Jean-Pierre Bemba was barred from running after a review conducted by the country's Independent National Electoral Commission.
31.
Jean-Pierre Bemba joined other opposition leaders to support candidate Martin Fayulu, who went on win the election by a wide marging according to many sources, but to lose, according to the official election commission, to Felix Tshisekedi.