Hearings in the trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba at the International Criminal Court (ICC) will resume on Thursday, September 27, having been cancelled today for reasons the court did not make public.

Today, a former intelligence officer in the regime of the late president of the Central African Republic (CAR), Ange-Félix Patassé, was due to be questioned by victims’ lawyers. He has testified since last Wednesday, under the court-given name ‘Witness D04-07.’

Mr. Bemba, who faces two counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity, has called four of the planned 63 witnesses, the first three being experts. They have provided testimony that exonerates his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) fighters from responsibility for crimes committed during the 2002-2003 armed conflict in the CAR, and also stated that Mr. Bemba was not in charge of his troops stationed in the conflict country.