A complaint was filed in Brussels against nine family members of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, according to La Libre on Tuesday.
The suspects, with Belgian nationality, are accused of looting mines in the provinces of Lualaba and Upper Katanga, in the south of the country.
Those accused include Tshisekedi's sister-in-law, sons, brothers, cousins and even the country's first lady. They are described in the complaint as "accomplices to acts of corruption and other criminal behaviour."
The complaint was filed with federal prosecutor Ann Fransen by lawyers Bernard and Brieuc Maingain on behalf of various NGOs from Katanga and four former directors of Gécamines, the Congolese state-owned mining company.
The lawyers make it clear that the nine individuals named are not the only ones they accuse of looting. However, in this complaint they are "only" focusing on individuals with Belgian nationality who can be prosecuted by the courts in our country. "Other charges may soon be filed in other countries from which the plunderers of our resources originate," said one of the prosecutors.
