Congolese rebel's war crimes trial to start April 27: courtThe war crimes trial of former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president and ex-rebel Jean-Pierre Bemba Jean-Pierre Bemba (born 4 November 1962) was one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2003 to 2006. He was sworn in on 17 July 2003. will start on April 27, the International Criminal Court said Thursday. "The International Criminal Court set the date for the commencement of the trial ... as Tuesday April 27, 2010," said a court statement. Bemba, 47, stands accused of three charges of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Central African Republic Central African Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,800,000), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered by Chad (N), Sudan (E), Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville) (S), and Cameroon (W). (CAR) from October 2002 to March 2003. He will stand trial for acts of murder, rape and pillaging allegedly committed by members of his Congolese Liberation Movement A liberation movement is a group organizing a rebellion against a colonial power (Anti-imperialism) or seeking separation from a state for parts of the population that feel suppressed by the majority. (MLC (MultiLevel Cell) A flash memory technology that stores more than one bit per cell. Traditional flash memory defines a 0 or 1 bit based on a single voltage threshold. ) while helping troops of then CAR president Ange-Felix Patasse fight off a coup bid. His trial will be the ICC's third since it started operating in The Hague in July 2002. The court in August granted Bemba conditional release ahead of his trial, but he remains in custody in The Hague until a country can be found to host him. Prosecutors appealed the decision on the grounds that Bemba was a flight risk and may harm witnesses in his trial. Hearings scheduled to be held in September to examine the willingness of six states, cited as possible hosts by Bemba, were indefinitely in·def·i·nite adj. Not definite, especially: a. Unclear; vague. b. Lacking precise limits: an indefinite leave of absence. c. postponed. Most of the countries listed by Bemba -- Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. -- had raised objections to hosting him. A business tycoon who left DR Congo in 2007 after losing presidential elections held during a political transition in the wake of a 1998-2003 civil war, Bemba was arrested on an ICC ICC See: International Chamber of Commerce warrant in Brussels in May 2008. He had briefly led the opposition, but was forced into exile when government forces tried to disarm his private militia militia (məlĭsh`ə), military organization composed of citizens enrolled and trained for service in times of national emergency. Its ranks may be filled either by enlistment or conscription. in clashes that killed 300 in March 2007. Prosecutors claim Bemba had sent 1,000 to 1,500 troops to the CAR, partly to retain control of the border area with the Congolese province of Equateur. While there, the prosecution alleges that MLC militia brutally gang-raped men, women and children, and tortured and murdered civilians. Prosecutors had sought to try him on five counts of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity. But in June, judges ruled there was not sufficient evidence for charges of torture or outrages upon personal dignity, confirming a total of five counts. 
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