Kinshasa, 16 June-(ANA)-Congolese ex-Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba will face five counts of war crimes, the International Criminal Court has ruled.
The charges relate to the actions of his troops in the neighbouring Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
But his lawyers are appealing, saying the militia was not under his command once they had crossed the border.
Mr Bemba led a rebel movement during DR Congo's long civil war but became vice-president under a peace deal.
He is the most high-profile of four Congolese warlords facing trial at the ICC.
A pre-trial panel of judges "found that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is criminally responsible" for murders, rapes and pillaging, said a statement from the ICC.
He is to face trial on three counts of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity.
At a pre-trial hearing in January, the prosecutor said Mr Bemba "wanted to traumatise and terrorise the civilian population so they would not support the rebels".
"He chose rape as his main method... rapes against mothers in the presence of their children and rapes of children as their parents were forced to watch," the prosecutor said. (ANA)
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