FILE PHOTO: Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) addresses a news conference in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 3, 2018. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe/File Photo

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo’s top court said on Monday it had definitively excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from December’s presidential election because of a witness tampering conviction at the International Criminal Court.

Bemba, a former vice president and warlord, finished second to President Joseph Kabila in a 2006 election that sparked deadly clashes between Bemba’s supporters and state troops in the streets of the capital Kinshasa.