Dutch court jails Congolese man

Nzapali served under DR Congo's ex-leader Mobutu Sese Seko

A Dutch court has sentenced a former colonel from the Democratic Republic of Congo to 30 months in prison for torturing people there in the 1990s.

This is the first case of war crimes committed in another country to reach a Dutch national court.

Sebastian Nzapali - known as the king of the beasts - was acquitted on charges of rape and received half the sentence recommended by prosecutors.

He was tried under a new law based on the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture.

No refuge

The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague says this trial - widely regarded as a test case - puts the Netherlands on a similar legal footing as Belgium.

There, national courts have jurisdiction over war crimes committed abroad.

Our correspondent says Dutch prosecutors hope to send out a signal that there's no refuge for war criminals in the Netherlands.

Nzapali - who served under Zaire's former leader Mobutu Sese Seko - applied for political asylum in the Netherlands in 1998.

But the Dutch authorities only granted him temporary status, because they suspected he was guilty of war crimes.

He was arrested last year, after three Congolese nationals in Congo filed charges against him.