Belgium handed over the last relic of deceased Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, a tooth, to his family on Monday, closing a chapter in the country’s colonial history.
In a televised ceremony, Chief Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw presented the relatives with a little, bright blue box containing the tooth, and declared the legal process they had taken to obtain the relic had given “justice.”
The teeth was placed in a casket covered in the flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which honors Lumumba as an anti-colonial hero who was assassinated by rebels and Belgian mercenaries in 1961.
Read also: The remains of Patrice Emery Lumumba will be returned to the DRC 60 years after his death
Lumumba’s assassination, as well as Belgian dominance of the Congo’s violent history, have been long-standing sources of animosity between the two countries.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stated again that the authorities in his country bear “moral responsibility” for the incident.
“In the presence of his family, I would want to express the Belgian government’s apologies,” he said.
“A guy was assassinated because of his political beliefs, speech, and ideals.”
Lumumba’s son Francois told Belgian network RTBF that his ancestors have been waiting for this moment for “more than 60 years.”
“I believe it will bring comfort to the family as well as the Congolese people,” he said.
“A new chapter in history is being written.”
Lumumba, a vehement opponent of Belgium’s greedy rule, became his country’s first prime minister after independence in 1960.
But, after falling out with the previous colonial authority and the US, he was deposed in a coup just months after gaining office.
With the help of Belgian mercenaries, he was executed in the southern district of Katanga on January 17, 1961, at the age of 35.
His body was never located after it was dissolved in acid.
However, one of the participants, a Belgian police officer, saved the tooth as a trophy.
After Lumumba’s family filed a complaint, Belgian authorities recovered the tooth from the policeman’s daughter, Gerard Soete, in 2016.
The tooth’s casket is scheduled to be flown back to the DRC, where it will be laid to rest at a memorial monument.
To commemorate the burial ceremony, the country will observe three days of “national mourning” from June 27 to 30, the 62nd anniversary of its independence.
Lumumba’s oldest son Francois filed a complaint in Belgium in 2011, accusing a dozen Belgian officials and diplomats of being responsible for his father’s death.
Only two of the targeted officials are still alive, despite the fact that the inquiry for “war crimes” is still ongoing.
In 2001, a Belgian parliamentary panel of inquiry determined that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for the assassination, and a year later, the government sent “apologies” to the people.
Belgian officials “choose not to see, choose not to act” to halt the killing, according to De Croo, even if they did not intend it to happen.
Lumumba’s children were also welcomed by Belgium’s King Philippe, who visited the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month to express his “deepest sorrow” for the colonial past.
Millions of people were killed, disfigured, or died of disease as a result of being forced to collect rubber under Belgian authority, according to historians. Minerals, timber, and ivory were also taken from the area.
