Justice…delayed in Congo

It was just a one-paragraph item in the news – but its import was so far-reaching that your Eyewitness was gobsmacked! The item said, “A Brussels court ruled that a 93-year-old retired Belgian diplomat must stand trial for the 1961 killing of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.” The news reminds us that countries that ruled despotically over us in what they called the “third world” weren’t just the big ones like Britain or the USA. Here’s tiny Belgium – known more for its chocolates than anything nowadays – once ruling over what was then “The Belgian Congo”!! And contrary to the benign reputation they’ve cultivated, they were as vicious as could be in ruling THEIR vassal state they snatched in the late 19th century’s Europe “Scramble for Africa”!! The Congo was ELEVEN times the size of Belgium – and packed with gold, diamonds and copper!!
Belgium’s typical of the “medium powers” the Canadian PM Carney sanctimoniously tried to rally to stand together after Pres. Trump kicked them to the curb recently!! Your Eyewitness will shed no tears for them since they were all complicit in their crimes against humanity – except that they didn’t see the Congolese as humans!! The Belgian rape of the Congo has left those poor souls in turmoil to this day. Lumumba was one of the bright lights that came out of Africa in the struggles for independence from the imperial powers. In June 1960 he led the Congo to independence but refused to become a figurehead leader who’d have the colonial power continue their plunder and rape of “natives”!! At his inauguration as PM, he spoke about these atrocities in front of the Belgian King – who was furious!!!
But it was his decision to nationalise the mining and his closeness to Russia that sealed his doom. Within six months of his inauguration, he was kidnapped by Belgian mercenaries supporting western-backed Katangan separatists – including Etienne Davignon, the diplomat now charged – and murdered in the jungle. Another Belgian officer, Police Commissioner Gerard Soete, sawed the bodies in pieces and dissolved them in sulphuric acid. Two teeth were all that remained of Lumumba. Soete kept them as a trophy. This was shown on television, in a 2000 report on a German broadcaster in which Soete himself recounted the details and held the teeth up to the camera.
Lumumba’s daughter petitioned the Belgian King for the return of the teeth to the Congo, and in 2022 one was finally returned where it was taken: Lumumba’s native village and then transported to Katanga in the southeast, where he was executed in 1961.
Maybe justice will finally be done when Davignon goes on trial. But then Belgium doesn’t have the death penalty!!

…being mocked
With Sanction Man and his Daady filing frivolous suits in the local courts to delay his appointment in the US courts, they’ve all been dismissed – including appeals – and costs awarded to the defendants. One of them was the AG, who, not receiving his court-mandated costs, pointed this out over social media.
Well, who told him to do that?! Sanction Man’s lawyer replied snarkily: “My clients, Mssrs (sic) Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed, are delighted that the Government is eager to do business with them and to accept their generous endowments once again. Please note that such funds may or may not have their source in activities related to the sale of gold in Dubai and/or money saved through the manner of importation of various luxury and sports cars”!!
“Eager to do business with them”??? As the AG pointed out, these costs were imposed by the courts!! Whatever challenges Sanction Man faces in complying, he should’ve sought the Court’s guidance!!
They certainly know the way to the courts!!

…served
Venezuelan President Delcy just fired Defence Minister General Vladimir Padrino. A hard-liner appointed by Mad Maduro, he was responsible for much of the human rights violations against political opponents.
Not to mention being a bagman for gold and cocaine smuggling!!