Belgium returns Patrice Lumumba’s tooth to his family

Reparations 📅 20 June 2022 📍 Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Belgian authorities returned a tooth identified as belonging to Congolese independence leader Patrice Emery Lumumba to his family in a state ceremony. Lumumba was assassinated in 1961 with Belgian involvement, and the tooth was retained in Belgium. The return enabled burial and public mourning, an immaterial and material act of repair, while it did not resolve the broader responsibility for his killing or colonial violence.

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