Patrice Lumumba was sentenced to six months in prison. The trial’s start date of 18 January 1960 was the first day of the Congolese Round Table Conference in Brussels, intended to make a plan for the future of the Congo.
Despite Lumumba's imprisonment, the Movement National Congolais (MNC) won a convincing majority in the December local elections in the Congo. As a result of strong pressure from delegates upset by Lumumba’s trial, he was released and allowed to attend the Brussels conference.
When he was released from detention in time to attend the Round Table Conference in Brussels which paved the way for Congo’s general elections, he became an effective speaker when compared to other Congolese leaders and this helped his campaigning. After the May 1960 general elections, Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 with Lumumba as the leader of the largest single party. He was selected to become the Congo’s first Prime Minister and his political rival, Joseph Kasa-Vubu, became President of the Congo.
The resulting 37-strong Lumumba government was very diverse, with its members coming from different classes, different tribes, and holding varied political beliefs. Though many had questionable loyalties to Lumumba, most did not openly contradict him out of political considerations or fear of reprisal.
As the Prime Minister, Lumumba faced sudden emergencies. The Congolese elite feared Lumumba’s notion of nationalism and participatory democracy and thus the
