Will the Big Fish Be Cooked? Congolese Reactions to the Start of the Bemba Trial
Published: 8 Dec 2011
By: Olivia Bueno
As the trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba started in The Hague on November 22, Kinshasa was abuzz with the news. Newspapers carried the story as front page news. “Bemba Giving Up His Ex” cried the full page cover of Le Soft, while La Prosperite read “Bemba Faces the Judges.” Congolese television broadcast the opening statements in their entirety and radio outlets offered an overview. All in all, there was a serious mobilization of news outlets to cover the trial. In the words of one Congolese activist, “The ICC has just had its first real public audience in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
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