Last updated: 19 october, 2010 - 16:05 GMT
The Hague rejects appeal to dismiss the war crimes trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba
Media Player
To play this content JavaScript must be turned on and the latest Flash player installed.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will go ahead with the war crimes trial of DR Congo's former Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba after rejecting a request to have the case dismissed.
His lawyers argued that Mr Bemba had already been investigated in Central African Republic (CAR) and could not be prosecuted twice for the same crime.
Mr Bemba is accused of leading militias in the CAR in 2002 and 2003 to support former president, Ange-Félix Patassé.
His militia allegedly carried out a campaign of looting, attacking civilians and widespread rape under his command - charges Mr Bemba denies.
BBC Focus on Africa's Peter Ndoro spoke to Sadi el Abdullah - legal outreach officer in the public information section at the ICC - about today's decision.
Related BBC Links
Most Popular Now
BBC iD
BBC iDBBC navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2014The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
