Koffi Olomide guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl

Koffi Olomide, one of Africa's most popular singers, was convicted of the legal rape of one of her former dancers at the age of 15.

A French court in absentia sentenced him to a two-year suspended prison sentence because of his absence.

This decision means that the Congolese star will only be arrested if she commits other offenses, said Nadir Djennad, of the BBC.

Olomide, 62, was sentenced to pay 5,000 euros in damages to the former dancer.

The court in Nanterre, in the Paris suburbs, also sentenced him to pay a fine of the same amount for helping three women to enter France illegally.

The Olomide lawyer described the victory decision as a victory, telling reporters that this would entail the withdrawal of the star's international arrest warrant.

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Koffi Olomide is a big star of rumba and soukous, very popular in most of Africa.

One of the most beloved successes of his long career is the 1997 Act.

Olomide was first charged in 2012 with aggravated rape, but the charges were reduced.

Four dancers who previously worked for the musician told the court that he had badually badaulted them several times between 2002 and 2006. According to them, the badaults took place in France and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The women further baderted that they were held captive in a villa near Paris and that they escaped one night in June 2006, without having returned home to the DRC for fear of reprisal. .

Prosecutors were seeking a seven-year prison sentence, but the court dismissed the charges of badault and kidnapping.

Olomide fled to DR Congo in 2009 promising to defend himself but did not appear for the trial in France which, at the request of the women, was held behind closed doors in court. Parisian.

The singer, whose real name is Antoine Agbepa Mumba, has already been in trouble with the law on several occasions:

• In 2018, Zambia ordered his arrest after allegedly badaulting a photographer.
• In 2016, he was arrested and deported after badaulting one of his dancers in Kenya.
• In 2012, he was sentenced in DR Congo for badaulting his producer and sentenced to three months in prison.
• In 2008, he had been accused of kicking a cameraman from the private RTGA TV channel in DRC and having broken his camera during a concert.