Papa Wemba in court

PARIS – Papa Wemba, a flamboyant African music star accused in both France and Belgium of smuggling people into Europe, appeared in a court in a Paris suburb yesterday to answer charges against him.

The 54-year-old singer, also known as the “King of Rhumba Rock”, risks a sentence of 10 years in jail and a fine of US$950 000 if found guilty of running a scam to illegally bring Africans into France. The main charges against him are of helping foreigners illegally enter France, fraudulently obtaining official documents and associating with criminals.He faces similar charges in Belgium, where he holds citizenship.The Afropop singer – born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – is accused of having some 150 DRC nationals pay him up to 3 500 euros to have him sign paperwork vouching that they were musicians in his Viva La Musica band.He was arrested in his home near Paris in February 2003 after being put under surveillance by police who had grown suspicious of dozens of “musicians” turning up at airports without instruments.Wemba has allegedly admitted to receiving 100 000 euros from the immigrants, but claimed he was acting out of humanitarian motivations.After being held in custody for three and half months, he was released on bail pending his court case.He was briefly arrested in February this year and extradited to Belgium to be formally charged there before being released again.- Nampa-AFPThe main charges against him are of helping foreigners illegally enter France, fraudulently obtaining official documents and associating with criminals.He faces similar charges in Belgium, where he holds citizenship.The Afropop singer – born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – is accused of having some 150 DRC nationals pay him up to 3 500 euros to have him sign paperwork vouching that they were musicians in his Viva La Musica band.He was arrested in his home near Paris in February 2003 after being put under surveillance by police who had grown suspicious of dozens of “musicians” turning up at airports without instruments.Wemba has allegedly admitted to receiving 100 000 euros from the immigrants, but claimed he was acting out of humanitarian motivations.After being held in custody for three and half months, he was released on bail pending his court case.He was briefly arrested in February this year and extradited to Belgium to be formally charged there before being released again.- Nampa-AFP