Belgian aristocrat ordered to stand trial over Patrice Lumumba assassination

Crime Diary, Europe-Asia, International, Investigation

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NPA) — March 18, 2026 — Étienne Davignon, a 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat and aristocrat, has been ordered by a Brussels court to face trial over the assassination of Congo’s first prime minister and anti-colonial icon, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961.

Lumumba, who became prime minister upon Congo’s independence from Belgium on June 24, 1960, was ousted in September of the same year amid political turmoil. Just months later, on January 16, 1961, he was brutally killed by a Belgian-backed secessionist rebel group in Katanga, an event that has long symbolised the violent legacy of colonial interference in Africa.

Davignon is the only surviving member of a group of 10 Belgian officials accused of complicity in Lumumba’s murder by the late leader’s family. His trial is expected to reignite debate over Belgium’s colonial past and its responsibility in the destabilisation of Congo during its early years of independence.

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