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The case against Jean-Pierre Bemba, Aimé Kilolo Musamba, Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, Fidèle Babala Wandu, and Narcisse Arido is the first case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) dealing with offenses against administration of justice. The case is exceptional in terms of scope and size in comparison to other international prosecutions dealing with this kind of offense. The charges concern a systematic scheme aimed at producing false testimony of a large number of witnesses. Five people, including members of a defense team in another case before the ICC, carried out this operation over a period of many years. The case also involves several interesting evidentiary and procedural issues, including the overall regime for admission of evidence before the ICC.
On October 19, 2016, Trial Chamber VII of the ICC rendered its judgment in the case (Judgment). 1 The proceedings against the accused had been initiated almost three years earlier with arrests in November 2013, through a law enforcement operation in four countries. On November 11, 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber II confirmed some of the charges against the accused. The trial commenced on September 29, 2015 and concluded with the parties’ closing statements on May 31 and June 1, 2016. Following the Judgment convicting the five accused, sentences against them were handed down in a decision of March 22, 2017 (Sentencing Decision). 2 Both the verdict and sentences were appealed, and on March 8, 2018, the Appeals Chamber rendered its judgments on both (Judgment on Appeal of Verdict and Judgment on Appeal of Sentencing, respectively). 3
Bemba, a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was at the time of the alleged offenses in custody at the ICC Detention Centre and on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes (Main Case). He was convicted of those crimes on March 21, 2016 but subsequently acquitted on appeal on June 8, 2018. Kilolo, a Belgian resident, was the lead counsel in the Main Case at the time of his arrest. Mangenda, a United Kingdom resident, was case manager for Bemba's defense team in the Main Case at the time of his arrest. Babala, a resident of the DRC, was a close political associate of Bemba and a member of the DRC National Assembly. Finally, Arido, a resident of...