Short answers, pulled from the story.
Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of the independent Republic of the Congo, serving from June to September 1960. He was the founder and leader of the Mouvement National Congolais and played a central role in ending Belgian colonial rule. He is regarded as a martyr of the pan-African movement.
Lumumba was executed on the 17th of January 1961 near Elisabethville in the State of Katanga. He was shot by a firing squad commanded by Belgian contract officer Julien Gat, with Belgian Police Commissioner Frans Verscheure in overall command of the site. The execution took place between 21:40 and 21:43, according to a Belgian parliamentary inquiry.
Belgium played a direct role in Lumumba's death. The Belgian Minister of African Affairs, Count Harold d'Aspremont Lynden, sent a cable on the 6th of October 1960 declaring that the "definitive elimination" of Lumumba was Belgian policy. Belgian officers led the firing squad and commanded the execution site. In February 2002, the Belgian government formally apologised and admitted "an irrefutable portion of responsibility" in his death.
The CIA conspired to kill Lumumba, though the 1975 Church Committee found it was not directly involved in his murder. President Eisenhower authorised an assassination operation in August 1960; CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb brought poison to the Congo in September 1960 with plans to place it on Lumumba's toothbrush or in his food. The plot was abandoned when agents refused to carry it out. CIA chief Allen Dulles allocated $100,000 for the operation.
After the execution, Belgian gendarmerie officer Gerard Soete dissolved Lumumba's body in sulfuric acid and scattered his bones. The only physical remnant was a single gold-capped tooth. A Belgian judge ruled in September 2020 that the tooth must be returned to his family. On the 20th of June 2022, Lumumba's children received the tooth at Egmont Palace in Brussels, and a mausoleum was built in Kinshasa to house it.
Lumumba delivered an unscheduled speech on the 30th of June 1960 at the independence ceremony in Léopoldville. He declared that Congolese independence had not been given by Belgium but won through fighting: "a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood." Time magazine characterised the speech as a "vicious attack".