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

In 2001, a Belgian parliamentary inquiry concluded that Lumumba’s transfer to the enemy-controlled Katanga region had been organized with the support of Belgian government officials. Its conclusion: According to current understanding, Belgium bears moral, but not legal, responsibility. 

ECCHR supports the Lumumba family in their quest for legal accountability: initially by filing a criminal complaint against those involved in the kidnapping and murder. Following the death of Etienne Davignon, the Belgian diplomat and high-ranking government official who was the last surviving alleged co-perpetrator before he could be brought to trial, his family and legal team will continue to pursue legal action, particularly to establish the Belgian State's legal responsibility.

50 years after Lumumba’s assassination, his son filed criminal charges against 11 Belgian citizens for their involvement in the assassination. ECCHR supported the case from the outset by submitting an amicus curiae brief in 2011 regarding the application of statutes of limitation. 

For years, the proceedings stalled. In June 2025, however, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office requested the transfer of former Belgian diplomat Etienne Davignon – the only one of the 11 accused still alive – to the Brussels Criminal Court (Tribunal correctionnel de Bruxelles). He is accused of having participated in the kidnapping and assassination of Lumumba. Wolfgang Kaleck, an attorney and General Secretary of ECCHR, was officially appointed as legal counsel for the family in the summer of 2025. 

On 20 January 2026, the case was heard for the first time. On that occasion, 10 additional members of the grandchildren’s generation of the Lumumba family joined the lawsuit. In March, the court announced that the charges against Davignon were admissible and expanded the proceedings to include the murders of Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, who were executed alongside Lumumba. The trial was scheduled to begin in 2027. This last opportunity for a Belgian court to investigate individual criminal responsibility in connection with Lumumba’s assassination passed with Davignon’s death on 18 May 2026. 

The struggle for a legal reckoning regarding Lumumba’s murder is part of a broader movement for truth, remembrance, social peace, and postcolonial justice. Western governments viewed Lumumba as a threat to their interests and as a symbolic figure of decolonization. 

The Lumumba case is unique in several respects. On the one hand, it marked the first time the assassination of an African independence leader by a former colonial power was to be prosecuted in a criminal court. On the other, serious violations of the Geneva Conventions committed during decolonization can be classified as war crimes. Both Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were signatories to these conventions at the time of the murder. As early as the mid-20th century, legal scholars called for accountability under international criminal law for war crimes committed in armed conflicts – otherwise, numerous crimes committed during the colonial era would go unpunished. 

The investigation into Lumumba’s assassination is emblematic of the widespread impunity for crimes committed by European colonial powers during decolonization. While the consequences of colonial rule continue to this day, former colonial powers are dragging their feet in coming to terms with the past, and those responsible often can no longer be held accountable. In many countries – including Belgium – there is currently discussion about truth commissions and other mechanisms for addressing colonial crimes.  

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