Category Archives: Patrice Lumumba

DRC buries independence hero Patrice Lumumba’s tooth, his only remains

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Coffin containing tooth is buried in ceremony on 62nd anniversary of DRC’s independence

The family of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s murdered independence hero Patrice Lumumba buried his only known remains – a tooth – in the capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday, 61 years after his death at the hands of Belgian-backed secessionist rebels.

Hundreds gathered in a vast square for the occasion, waving flags and looking upon a large photo of Lumumba, with his trademark horn-rimmed glasses and side-swept hair, framed by white flowers.

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Belgium returns Patrice Lumumba’s tooth to his family 61 years after his murder

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Congolese independence hero’s gold-capped tooth returned as ex-colonial power faces its bloody past

Belgian authorities have returned a tooth belonging to the murdered Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look toward reconciliation.

The restitution of the relic took place after Belgium’s King Philippe expressed his “deepest regrets” this month for his country’s abuses in its African former colony, Congo, 75 times the size of Belgium.

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Belgium to return Patrice Lumumba’s gold tooth in bid to atone for colonial crimes

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Relic of the murdered Republic of Congo leader will be returned to his family as Brussels confronts its bloody past in Africa

The Belgian government will return a tooth of Patrice Lumumba to his family this week, hoping to draw a line under one of the most brutal and shameful episodes in the country’s bloody exploitation of central Africa.

The relic is all that remains of Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, under its earlier name Republic of Congo, and an icon of the struggle against colonialism in Africa, who was murdered by separatists and Belgian mercenaries in 1961. His killers dissolved his remains in acid, though some kept teeth as macabre mementoes.

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Belgium must return tooth of murdered Congolese leader, judge rules

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Belgian policeman had admitted taking tooth from Patrice Lumumba’s body in 1961

A Belgian judge has said that a tooth taken from the remains of the Congo’s first elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, should be returned to his family almost 60 years after his assassination by rebels overseen by Belgian officers.

The tooth had been seized from a Belgian policeman who admitted taking it while helping to dispose of Lumumba’s body after the politician was murdered in 1961. The Belgian government of the time, the CIA and MI6 have also been implicated.

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Belgium mulls charges over 1961 killing of Congo’s first elected leader

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Prosecutors say there are two living suspects allegedly linked to assassination of Patrice Lumumba

Belgian prosecutors are investigating whether they can bring charges against people suspected of taking part in the killing of Congo’s first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, almost 60 years after his assassination.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw said on Wednesday: “We are in the process of taking stock of the prosecutions that could be launched. The facts have been qualified as a war crime, which has been confirmed by the Brussels court of appeal. This means there is no statute of limitations.”

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