The son of the murdered independence leader Patrice Lumumba goes to court in Kinshasa today to sue Belgium, Congo's former colonial master, for killing his father.
The hearing was originally due on January 17, the 40th anniversary of Lumumba's death, but it was delayed by the assassination of President Laurent Kabila, who always claimed that he had modelled himself on Congo's first elected prime minister.
The parallel case is due to be heard in a Belgian court next week.
Roland Lumumba, 43, the nationalist leader's youngest son, says he is bringing the action against Belgium, several Belgian individuals, and a CIA officer in an effort to establish the truth about his father's death.
It has long been suspected that the Belgium ordered Lumumba's death, and its role has been highlighted recently by a film and several books.
The Assassination of Lumumba, by the Flemish expert on Africa Lugo De Witte, claimed that he was assaulted in the presence of Belgian officers, tortured in a villa guarded by Belgian troops, and shot by an execution squad supervised by a Belgian captain.
His body was later exhumed by a Belgian police commissioner, Gerard Soete, and dissolved in acid.
Mr Soete admitted on Belgian television last year that he had kept two of the victim's teeth, prompting calls for their return to Congo.
He insisted that he had later thrown them into the North Sea.
"We are doing this not for revenge but to know the truth," said Mr Lumumba, whose case is being funded by the Belgian organisation Affaire Patrice Emery Lumumba.
"They have hidden it for 40 years and that is now enough."
Lumumba, a postal worker who became an inspirational anti-colonialist leader, was released from jail in 1960 to help negotiate independence terms.
Six months later he became Congo's first elected prime minister at the age of 35, charged with holding together a country the size of western Europe.
"Before Lumumba there were only tribal and ethnic movements in Congo," said Roland, a tall man with his father's delicate features.
"He began the fight for freedom and unity."
Belgium, hoping to extend its influence in Congo to exploit its natural resources, preferred the country weak and divided, and encouraged the province of Katanga, rich in copper and diamonds, to secede.
As Soviet troops began to arrive in Kinshasa, Colonel Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, Lumumba's protege and army chief, turned to the US instead, then seized power, beginning a corrupt 32-year dictatorship.
Lumumba was murdered together with two political followers, whose families are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Embarrassed by the media interest, Belgium set up a parliamentary commission last year to examine the various claims that that it had ordered and carried out Lumumba's death.
"A group of experts, mainly historians, is examining documents to establish the responsibility of Belgium and maybe others," Michel Malherbe, deputy spokesman of the Belgian foreign ministry, said in Brussels yesterday.
"It will be a long-term process and there are definitely no plans for a report any time soon."
He said he was he unaware of the legal actions in Congo and Belgium.
Roland Lumumba hopes his case will force the commission's pace.
"Though we don't expect a lot from them, it is a start," he said.
"But we hope they will now produce the documents.
It was natural that in the case of someone of Lumumba's calibre, "who died doing his duty", and "with accusations flying here and there", someone should demand a trial to find out exactly what happened.
Mbu ne Letang Ntwa-Me-Zo, Mr Lumumba's lawyer, said: "The death of the Lumumba was the origin of our problems over 40 years.
"We want this trial to force the Belgium government to give us all the evidence surrounding the assassination. The truth will be established and sanctions will follow."
The families of Lumumba and the men murdered with him are suing for a nominal sum, but they say they reserve the right to amend this as more evidence comes to light.
But the case is not about money, Mr Lumumba says.
"If this was about money we would have gone to Mobutu: he knew how to give money away," he said - a reference to the dictator's legendary corruption.
"Lumumba said the history of Congo will be written not in New York or Paris but here, and we are trying to learn that history. For me this is not personal.
"We have a duty to our children at least to try to find out the truth."
