Étienne Davignon dies before his trial in the Patrice Lumumba assassination case

Former Belgian diplomat Étienne Davignon died on Monday at the age of 93, before he could be tried in the case of the assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba in 1961. This year, he became the first person officially charged in this historic case.

The death of Étienne Davignon was confirmed by the Jacques Delors Institute, of which he was a board member. A major figure in Belgian diplomacy and industry for several decades, he had also served as a European Commissioner.

The Belgian public prosecutor's office had decided to send him to trial for war crimes in connection with the investigation into the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, considered one of the most significant political crimes of the 20th century. Prosecutors believed he had participated in the illegal detention or transfer of the Congolese leader and had deprived him of his right to a fair trial.

Having become Prime Minister of Congo, now called the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the country's independence from Belgium in 1960, Patrice Lumumba was overthrown a few months later before being assassinated on January 16, 1961 by secessionist rebels supported by Belgium.

The affair remains one of the darkest episodes in Belgian colonial history and a symbol of the African independence struggles of the time. The assassination of Lumumba continues to evoke strong emotions in Africa and Europe more than six decades later.

Étienne Davignon was also accused of involvement in the assassinations of two close allies of Lumumba, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. He had always denied any responsibility and was appealing the decision to send him to trial at the time of his death.

He was the last surviving suspect in this investigation, which began nearly fifteen years ago. His death now risks further complicating efforts to establish judicial responsibility in this emblematic case of postcolonial African history.