Paris courts yesterday gave Congolese singer Papa Wemba, one of Africa's biggest music stars, a 30-month jail sentence after finding him guilty of aiding an illegal immigration racket involving his entourage. However, much of the sentence was suspended which means, given the singer has been in jail for 4 months already, he will not have to return to prison. The news was met with jubilation by the 150 odd Wemba fans that had gathered outside the court for the hearing.
As previously reported, Wemba is suspected of taking payments to procure visas for Congolese nationals - smuggling people into France as members of his entourage. Officials became suspicious when, in 2000, Wemba was accompanied by an entourage of 200 people, with very few musicians among them. Wemba still faces similar charges in Belgium where he also holds citizenship.
French prosecutors had hoped for a longer sentence for the singer - however, while Wemba admitted to helping a small number of people into France (for, he stressed, compassionate and not commercial reasons), his lawyer argued that he shouldn't take the rap for a larger group of people who are employed in smuggling Congolese immigrants into France, using Wemba's name but not receiving his endorsement.