The federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said Wednesday that an investigation was still open in Belgium to bring to justice persons suspected of having participated in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. "There are still two people who are in life ", he said on LN24. "We are trying to make the point in relation to proceedings which may be instituted. It has been described as the facts of the crime of war, which has been confirmed by the Court of appeal of Brussels. Thus, they are not prescriptive. "

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In December 2012, the belgian justice had announced that at the request of the family of Patrice Lumumba, it was going to launch an investigation into the assassination within the framework of the so-called law of " universal jurisdiction ", which allows for prosecution of persons suspected of war crimes, of crimes against humanity or genocide if the complainant or the accused have a link with Belgium.