Belgium hands over stolen tooth to family of DRC independence hero
Shot dead by a firing squad with the tacit backing of the former colonial power, Belgium, Patrice Lumumba's body was hacked to pieces and finally dissolved in acid. Belgium kept a memento of Lumumba's known remains.
A Belgian parliamentary investigation into his killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was "morally responsible" for Lumumba's death.
Belgium handed over a tooth, the only known remains of the murdered Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, to his family during a ceremony in Brussels.
Lumumba became the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) first democratically elected prime minister after independence from Belgium in 1960, but alarmed the West with overtures to Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
His government lasted just three months before he was overthrown and assassinated by a firing squad. His supporters and some historians accuse the CIA of having ordered his killing. His body was never found.
A Belgian official handed a blue box containing the tooth to members of his family at Egmont Palace in central Brussels on Monday.
"It isn't normal that Belgians held on to the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a speech.
READ MORE: Belgium’s return of Lumumba’s remains is disingenuous and hollow
Belgium finally returns a gold crowned tooth belonging to Patrice Lumumba who remains a hero of the anti colonial struggle. This is the last remains of Lumumba. It was kept as a trophy by a Belgian police officer. The rest of his remains was dissolved in acid. pic.twitter.com/kbDlB1NLou
— Norbert Mao (@norbertmao) June 20, 2022
De Croo said Belgian colonial rule was a dark page in Belgium's history, echoing comments of the Belgian King Philippe in a visit to DRC earlier in June, adding African people still experienced racism in Belgium today.
DRC Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde called Lumumba a national hero and said his death and suppression of his supporters hurt not only victims' families but the country as a whole.
Today the remains of Patrice Lumumba are finally being handed over to the Congo. They had been in Belgium for 6 decades. It’s only a single tooth as he was murdered in front of a firing squad, and his remains dissolved in acid. pic.twitter.com/lAyCcA3PLM
— Grâce Ndjako (@GraceNdjako) June 20, 2022
Lumumba's daughter Juliana, who in 2020 sent a letter to Belgium's king asking for her father's remains to be returned, said there was still a lot unknown about the final moments of her father's life.
"All we know is that you were convicted and unable to defend yourself," she said in a speech.
A Belgian parliamentary investigation into his killing concluded in 2002 that Belgium was "morally responsible" for Lumumba's death.
The tooth was reportedly taken from Lumumba's body by a Belgian policeman, Gerard Soete, who claimed to have dissolved much of Lumumba's body in acid, and burned the rest.
READ MORE: The worst Belgian colonial atrocities that Congolese can't forget
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