BBC News
Koffi Olomide, one of Africa’s most popular singers, has been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting his producer. The Rhumba star (56), was arrested after a fracas on Wednesday at a hotel in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Correspondents say the courtroom was packed to see the star, who leads the Quartier Latin band.
Olomide this year denied charges of raping three of his dancers in France.
The altercation with his producer, Diego Lubaki, was over a debt of 3 000 euros (US$3 680), the court heard.
Lubaki said he wanted to drop the charges, but the judge continued the trial. “He wanted to withdraw charges in favour of social peace and peace between him and the one he calls his ‘big brother’,” one of his lawyers was quoted as saying.
The court convicted Olomide of assault and battery but acquitted him of malicious destruction to property, after the hotel room door was damaged in the fight.
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The music he plays is known as “soukous”, which comes from the French word secouer, meaning to shake, and its dancers are renowned for their erotic moves.
