Congolese rebel warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba must be detained until his trial, appeals judges at the International Criminal Court said today, reversing a pre-trial decision to release him.

Bemba, whose trial for murder, rape and pillage in the Central African Republic is scheduled for April 2010, had been granted release four months ago pending a decision on which country he would stay in until the start of his trial.

ICC prosecutors appealed against the decision, saying Bemba should remain in custody so that victims and witnesses could be sure a trial would take place, and their safety be guaranteed.

The appeals chamber said the decision to release Bemba could not be made without knowing what country would be prepared to hold him.

Pre-trial judges "disregarded relevant facts" in deciding that a substantial change of circumstances warranted the release of Bemba, the court said in a statement.

Bemba, the highest-profile suspect so far brought before the ICC, is facing trial on two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for leading rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo in a campaign of torture, rape and murder in the neighbouring Central African Republic.

Bemba, who was arrested in Belgium in May 2008, denies all the charges and is being held at the UN detention centre in Scheveningen near The Hague.

Established in 2002, the International Criminal Court is the world's first permanent war crimes court set up to try individuals for war crimes and genocide.

Elsewhere, a former Rwandan bank director was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison by a Belgian court which found him guilty of war crimes including murder, attempted murder and rape during the 1994 genocide.

Ephraim Nkezabera, 57, was not present in court and did not attend the trial in Brussels, which started just over three weeks ago, because of ill health. He is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

The jury followed the prosecutor's advice in giving him the 30-year sentence, rather than a life term.

Nkezabera had previously admitted accusations including inciting violence, threatening minority Tutsis with genocide, and providing Hutu militias with weapons. He denied charges of rape, saying the women had consented to sexual intercourse.

"This is a huge relief. He ordered people to be killed and raped women ... But 30 years, we had not expected this," Bernadette Trachet, whose brother was killed in the genocide, told Reuters.

"Symbolically, this is a very important decision," she said, adding it would set an example for future and pending cases.

Ethnic Hutu militia and soldiers slaughtered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in just 100 days during the 1994 massacre that killed 800,000 Rwandans.

Nkezabera, a former director of the Commercial Bank of Rwanda, has been described by witnesses as one of the engines of the Interahamwe militia, for which he provided funding.

He was also found guilty of financing privately owned Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was used to spread anti-Tutsi propaganda.