Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for rape and pillage committed by his troops, becoming the highest-level official to be sentenced at the international criminal court.<br />Jean-Pierre Bemba, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of Congo in 2006, was jailed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.<br />Bemba was found guilty in March of five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his private army – the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) – after he sent them into the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) from October 2002 to March 2003 to put down a coup.<br />Campaigners welcomed the lengthy prison term.
