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A 74-year-old Belgian man has been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo on allegations he raped two girls, police said Wednesday.
Francis Belliz is accused of “raping two Congolese girls, 11 and 13 years old,” and is being held in custody in the capital Kinshasa, police spokesman Colonel Pierrot Mwana Mputu said.
Under DR Congo law, the divorced father of three, who according to police has been living in the country illegally since 2011, faces between five and 20 years behind bars if convicted.
The alleged rapes occurred this year, the police said, without specifying when.
The Belgian embassy declined comment on the case, citing individual privacy laws.
Women are frequent targets of sexual violence in the sprawling central African nation, especially in the conflict-torn east.