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‪This text deals with the return to the DRC of a tooth belonging to the Congolese independence leader, Patrice Lumumba. As the only “human remains” of the former Prime Minister of the DRC, it has the value of a relic, which has led to its burial in a place dedicated to his memory in Kinshasa. After summarizing the main stages that led to the tooth’s return to the DRC, from media coverage to legal proceedings, the text places this restitution within a series of expectations—from Lumumba’s family, Belgian and Congolese civil society—and in a context of increased reflection on the return of human remains and cultural objects to former colonies. Finally, in light of the stakes revealed by the media narrative of the ceremony to hand over Lumumba’s “relic,” it examines its exploitation by the Belgian and Congolese governments for political ends.‪