Jean-Pierre Bemba

Jean-Pierre Bemba
Jean-Pierre Bemba, 2006
Born	(1962-11-04) 4 November 1962 (age 54) Bokada, Nord-Ubangi, DRC
Nationality	Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Other names	Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo
Known for	Former Vice President of the DRC; Indicted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2006. Bemba also leads the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a rebel group turned political party. He received the second highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election. In January 2007 he was elected to the Senate.

He was arrested near Brussels on 24 May 2008 on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Although he was originally charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and five counts of war crimes, in October 2010, the ICC reduced the charges to two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes. On 21 March 2016, he was convicted on these charges. On 21 June 2016, he was jailed for 18 years following a landmark conviction at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and sexual violence. He is considered to be a leader by a segment of the Congolese population (mostly those aligned with the MLC). He awaits further sentencing for corruptly influencing witnesses through means of bribery during his trial for war crimes.

Bemba was born in Bokada, Nord-Ubangi. His 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 also a candidate in the 2006 presidential election.