By Inti Landauro
BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - A Brussels court on Tuesday ordered a former high-profile Belgian diplomat to stand trial over the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo, in a final attempt to shed light on the still murky circumstances surrounding his murder.
Lumumba, who became prime minister of the country now called the Democratic Republic of Congo upon its independence from Belgium in 1960, was ousted from power just months later and killed by Belgian-backed secessionist rebels on January 16, 1961.
A Belgian parliamentary investigation into Lumumba's killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was "morally responsible" for his death. But the trial of 93-year-old Count Etienne Davignon, a former EU Commissioner who was a junior diplomat at the time, constitutes the first prosecution related to the murder.
Prosecutors say Davignon, who is accused of war crimes, participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba and deprived him of his right to an impartial trial. They say he subjected Lumumba to "humiliating and degrading treatment".
He is also accused of involvement in the murders of two of Lumumba's political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.
All the other suspects in the case have died.
Davignon was not present in the courtroom on Tuesday, and his lawyer declined to comment.
FOR LUMUMBA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: 'STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION'
Though his government lasted just three months, Lumumba became an anti-colonial icon as African nations pushed for independence from their European masters in the 1960s. He remains a folk hero even today.
His murder marked a dark turn for Congo, which boasts vast mineral resources including copper, cobalt, gold and uranium but whose people have lived under dictatorship and the menace of deadly armed conflict for most of its post-independence history.
Though he publicly professed his neutrality, Lumumba's overtures to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War alarmed governments in the West, and some historians have accused Washington's Central Intelligence Agency of involvement in his death.
Lumumba's surviving family members initially brought the case, which has since been taken up by Belgian federal prosecutors.
"It is a step in the right direction," Lumumba's granddaughter Yema Lumumba told Reuters after the ruling. "What we want is to search for truth and establish different responsibilities."
Following his Congo assignment, Davignon, who was born into the Belgian nobility, went on to become a well-known diplomat as the first head of the International Energy Agency and a European Commissioner between 1977 and 1985.
He later served as chairman of the Belgian holding company Societe Generale de Belgique and sat on the boards of many listed companies.
Davignon was elevated to the rank of a count by Belgium's King Philippe in 2018.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Alex Chituc and Bart Meijer; Editing by Joe Bavier)
