International judges will on June 8, 2018, hand down a verdict in the appeal of disgraced former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, fighting his conviction for war crimes and an 18-year jail term.
International Criminal Court judges are set to deliver their judgment in the appeal by former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba against his convictions and an 18-year prison sentence for atrocities committed by his forces in the Central African Republic.
Bemba, 55, was found guilty in June 2016, as a military commander of two counts of crimes against humanity and three war crimes for a campaign of murder, rape and pillaging by his troops in 2002 and 2003.
He denied responsibility for the crimes.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have appealed his sentence, urging judges to raise it to 25 years.
The case ending Friday afternoon is significant as it was the first ICC prosecution to focus heavily on sexual crimes in an armed conflict.
Bemba also was the first person convicted by the court based on command responsibility.
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