Jean-Pierre Bemba with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (Photo Courtesy United Nations)

Former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for a campaign of terror in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.  He is accused of knowingly leading troops that raped, pillaged, murdered and burned their way through the countryside.

More than 750 victims are expected to participate in the trial, testifying about the atrocities they experienced during the brutal campaign.

Chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo called the mass rapes "crimes of domination and humiliation" and accused Bemba of being "even more responsible than his subordinates."

DR Congo underwent a war from 1998 until 2003 that involved 13 neighboring countries and resulted in 5.4 million people, many of them innocent casualties killed by disease and starvation.  The conflict is commonly referred to as Africa's World War.

Bemba was appointed vice president in the transitional government that emerged at the end of major conflict in 2003.  He then ran for president of DR Congo in 2006, but lost to current President Joseph Kabila.

Jean-Pierre Bemba was arrested in Brussels in 2008 and has been held in the custody of the ICC until his trial began this week.

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