The Hague - Congolese politician Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is due to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague Monday afternoon for a procedural hearing about his pre-trial detention.

The ICC's rules of procedure and evidence determine all detained suspects should be heard "at least once every year." The first year of Bemba's detention is due to expire on July 3.

The ICC has charged Jean-Pierre Bemba, 47, with five counts of war crimes allegedly committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) between 2002 and 2003.

Bemba became vice-president of Congo in 2003 and previously was president of the Congo Liberation Movement (MLC), a rebel group that fought in the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war.

He is accused of leading MLC-troops in a campaign of murder, torture and rape in the CAR.

Arrested by the Belgian authorities on May 24, 2008, he was transferred to the ICC detention centre in The Hague on July 3, 2008 and first heard at the ICC on July 4.

In a pre-trial hearing on January 12, the ICC determined Bemba could be prosecuted by the UN-sponsored court.

Operating under the auspices of the United Nations, the ICC was established by the Statute of Rome in 1998, an international agreement signed by 106 countries.

Since it began operating in 2002, the ICC has investigated war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, the Central-African Republic and Darfur. (dpa)