93 y/o Belgian diplomat to go on trial for colonial Congo assassination

 

Ex-Belgian diplomat faces trial over Lumumba assassination

Etienne Davignon took part in war crimes, including the “humiliating and degrading” treatment of the anti-colonial leader, prosecutors have said

Published 18 Mar, 2026 12:59 | Updated 18 Mar, 2026 14:00

©  AP Photo

A Belgian court has ordered former diplomat Etienne Davignon to stand trial over his alleged role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister and an anti-colonial figure, more than six decades ago.

Davignon, 93, is accused of participation in war crimes, including Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer,” denying him a fair trial, and subjecting him to humiliating and degrading treatment, according to prosecutors.

The decision by the Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance, announced on Tuesday, also covers the killings of Lumumba’s allies Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.

Davignon is the sole survivor among the ten Belgians accused by Lumumba’s family. He was not in court when the ruling was delivered, Reuters reported, adding that his lawyer declined to comment.

The former European commissioner was a junior diplomat at the time of Lumumba’s murder and has previously denied wrongdoing. He has two weeks to appeal and, unless the ruling is overturned, the trial is expected to begin in 2027.

READ MORE: Patrice Lumumba’s struggle was global, not just African – daughter

Lumumba became prime minister when Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, but was ousted within months and executed by firing squad in January 1961 at the age of 35. Although Congolese separatists carried out the assassination, questions have long persisted over Belgian and US involvement during the Cold War.

A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for his death, a finding later acknowledged by the government in an official apology. Lumumba had sought Soviet support during Congo’s post-independence crisis, and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) was named after him as a symbol of African independence.

READ MORE: 'We have suffered because we were Negroes': It took this man 200 days to become a legend in the fight against Western exploitation

In 2022, Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth – the only known remains of Lumumba – to his family.

In a press release, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said the Lumumba family has welcomed the latest court decision as the start of a long-awaited reckoning with Belgium’s responsibility for acts committed “in the name of colonial rule.”

“What we ask of this court is simple: the truth, spoken aloud, in the open, on the record of justice and history,” it stated.

UK's Collapsing Economy > Is Westminster avoiding the obvious? The media certainly seems to be

 

Thousands of Brits live rough on the streets of London and the West Midlands. Meanwhile, more than 100 thousand illegal immigrants live in 4-star hotels, or other government-funded accommodation, in comparative luxury. 

Energy costs are exceptional thanks to USA LNG, and Starmer is determined to give 5% of GDP to unnecessary military buildups that will mostly benefit the USA. Have you ever heard so much stupidity in your life?

Extreme poverty rate shoots up in UK – study

Nearly seven million people are living in severe hardship, the highest level on record, according the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

© Getty Images / Anadolu / Contributor

Poverty in the UK has worsened, with record numbers living in severe hardship and unable to afford basic necessities, according to an analysis by a leading charity.

More than one in five people in the UK – about 14.2 million – were living in poverty in 2023/24, the final year of the last Conservative government and the latest year for which official figures are available, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said in a report on Tuesday. Of these, about half, or 6.8 million people, were experiencing “very deep” hardship, the highest number in 30 years.

Children, renters, disabled people, and those in insecure work were among the groups most affected. Nearly 4.5 million children lived in poverty in 2023/24, 600,000 more than during the pandemic and marking the third consecutive year of increases. Rates were highest in larger families, where 44% of children were affected. People renting privately faced greater risks than homeowners, while disabled people and informal carers were also disproportionately affected, the report noted.

The most severe cases are even more acute. About 3.8 million people, including around one million children, experienced destitution, being unable to afford basics such as heating, clothing, and food.

Read more

 UK’s poorest have become poorer under Starmer – Telegraph

“Poverty in the UK is still not just widespread, it is deeper and more damaging than at any point in the last 30 years,” said JRF’s chief analyst Peter Matejic. “When nearly half of the people in poverty are living far below the poverty line, that is a warning sign that the welfare system is failing to protect people from harm.”

Poverty rates varied across the UK, with London and the West Midlands among the hardest-hit areas, according to the report.

Rising living costs and stagnant wages have contributed to the increase in severe poverty, the charity stated. Inflation for essentials such as food, energy, and rent has surged in recent years, while earnings for low-income households have barely increased, leaving many struggling to cover basic needs.

The poorest UK households have only become poorer under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government, despite promises to boost living standards, according to the latest data from independent research consultancy Retail Economics.

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Canadian Convulsions > Canada - The worst income growth in the G7; Canada now poorer than the poorest US State; Medical suicide saving Canada $1/4bn per year

 

Pierre Poilievre

@PierrePoilievre

Dead last! The worst per person income growth in the G7 after 9 years of Jagmeet and Justin.

11:17 AM · Dec 9, 2024

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153.4K

Views

Bret 

@Bret_Sears

Have you ever thought about bailing on Canada? If so, where would you move? Jordan Peterson on moving to Arizona: Do you know that Canadians are now poorer per capita with regard to GDP than people who live in Mississippi? The richest province in Canada is poorer than the poorest state in the United States. And that's all happened since Trudeau. What happens is that as soon as you're successful anywhere in the world, if you have any sense, you move to the United States because everything is way easier here.

0:19

6:59 AM · Dec 8, 2024

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1M

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Don't anybody tell Trump, or he won't want us for the 51st state.

More Canadians choosing medically assisted death

A government report reveals another double-digit increase in choice of euthanasia option

Euthanasia continues to represent a growing proportion of the mortality rate in Canada, accounting for nearly one in every 20 deaths in the country last year, the latest government figures show.

According to Health Canada’s annual medical assistance in dying (MAID) report, released on Wednesday, 15,343 people were euthanized in the country in 2023, an all-time high. While the number represents an increase of 15.8% over 2022, it registers a drop from an average annual growth rate of about 31%, the report noted.

While the growth rate has declined, it still reveals another double-digit increase in Canadian citizens opting to end their lives under the country’s national suicide law. It is “not yet possible to make reliable conclusions about whether or not these findings represent a stabilization of growth rates over the longer term,” the MAID report added.

Federal statistics show the growth in cases of assisted death making up 4.7% of deaths in 2023, compared to 4.1% the previous year.

More than 95% of euthanasia cases involved people who were terminally ill, with cancer cited as the most common reason for the request. The average age of someone seeking assisted death is over 77.

No one in Canada's far-left media has attempted to determine how much money Canada saves in medical costs and Old Age and Canada pensions from premature deaths through MAiD. A very quick and dirty estimate is about a quarter of a billion dollars per year, just in pensions. 

READ MORE: UK MPs vote to legalize assisted dying

“An increased awareness of MAID within the care continuum, population aging, and the associated patterns of illness or disease, personal beliefs, and societal acceptance, as well as the availability of practitioners who provide MAID, may all influence the rate of provisions,” the report noted.

Medically assisted death in Canada is only legal for people on the basis of a physical health condition. However, the government is reportedly considering allowing persons with Alzheimer’s and dementia to request their deaths before the worst effects of such illnesses set in.

In February, the government delayed a controversial plan to allow assisted dying for the mentally ill until at least 2027, to allow the country’s healthcare services to properly prepare. Medical professionals expressed concerns that they are not yet adequately trained to determine whether someone with a mental illness qualifies for euthanasia.

Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland said at the time the government accepts the equivalency of mental suffering and physical suffering, but that it is a “question of readiness.”

In 2021, Canada loosened its euthanasia laws to no longer require that a patient’s condition be terminal, allowing people whose condition is serious and incurable to request the option. The number of medically-assisted deaths in Canada has risen significantly since it was first introduced, from roughly 1,000 in 2016 to more than 15,000 last year.

In recent years a number of other countries have introduced assisted dying laws, including Austria, Australia and Spain. The UK recently passed legislation on the issue though the vote in the House of Commons was not the final say.

Hear God's Word for you in Psalm 139:16-17. 

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your

thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them.”

God nurtured you in the womb, and since your conception 

He has watched over you.

MAiD is a godless policy by a godless government. 

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