Just a few months after taking office, Patrice Lumumba - the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo - was murdered on 17 January 1961, in the Katanga region. Numerous international and national actors were involved in the crime, but particularly the former colonial power Belgium, which was also involved in the armed conflict following the independence of the DR Congo.

In 2001, a Belgian parliamentary investigation concluded that Lumumba's transfer to the hostile province of Katanga had been organized with the support of Belgian government representatives. Their conclusion: Belgium bears moral but not legal responsibility according to current norms.

On 17 March 2026 the Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance decided to open a criminal trial against former Belgian diplomat and senior state official Étienne Davignon for his alleged role in the abduction and transfer that led to the murder of Patrice Émery Lumumba.

50 years after Lumumba's murder, his son filed a criminal complaint on 23 June 2011, against eleven Belgian citizens for their involvement in the assassination. ECCHR has supported the case from the beginning through an amicus curiae brief on applicable periods of prescription.

For years, the proceedings stagnated. However, on 17 June 2025, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office requested the referral of former Belgian diplomat Etienne Davignon, the last surviving accused in this case, to the Brussels Criminal Court (Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles). He is accused of having been involved in Lumumba's abduction and murder. It may constitute the final opportunity for a Belgian court to examine, under criminal law, the individual responsibilities related to the assassination of Lumumba.

On January 20, 2026, the case was heard for the first time before the Brussels Court of First Instance. On this occasion, ten more members of the Lumumba family's grandchild generation joined the proceedings as civil parties. In March the court has announced that the case will go to trial. The Court went beyond the submissions of the Federal Prosecutor by extending the scope of the trial to also cover the assassinations of Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, who were executed alongside Lumumba. The trial is expected to begin in 2027. 

Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of the ECCHR and member of the Berlin Bar Association, was officially appointed as legal counsel for the family in the summer of 2025. The upcoming trial is part of a broader movement for historical truth, memory, social peace, and post-colonial justice.

For the first time, the murder of an African independence leader by a former colonial power is being prosecuted criminally in court. Lumumba was regarded by Western governments as a threat to their interests and as a symbolic figure of decolonization.

The Lumumba case is unique in several aspects. On the one hand, it could be one of the last opportunities to criminally prosecute colonial injustice and bring directly involved parties to court. On the other hand, serious violations of the Geneva Conventions committed during decolonization can qualify as war crimes. Both Belgium and the DR Congo were contracting parties to these conventions at the time of the murder. Already in the mid-20th century, jurists demanded international criminal responsibility for war crimes in armed conflicts - any other reading would mean that the numerous crimes committed during the colonial period would remain unpunished.

The criminal investigation into Lumumba's murder stands in the broader context of widespread impunity for crimes committed by European colonial powers during decolonization. While the consequences of colonial rule continue to this day, those responsible can often no longer be held accountable.

In many countries, including Belgium, there are ongoing discussion about truth commissions and other mechanisms for addressing colonial crimes.

The official return of Patrice Émery Lumumba's mortal remains to his family in June 2022 was an important moment of remembrance. Since filing the criminal complaint in 2011, the family has fought tirelessly for justice - not only for Patrice Lumumba, but also for his companions Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, as well as all victims of colonization.