While employed by the Congo Free State, Fiévez became notorious for his cruel methods of enforcing rubber production in his territory, included the wide-scale oppression and killing of local Congolese.
Fiévez's actions accrued significant coverage in the foreign press, forcing his removal from office and return to Belgium.
[6] However, Fiévez's methods were increasingly seen as overly brutal and as a liability to the Free State; this issue was compounded as word of the atrocities in his district spread and were reported on by British and American missionaries working in the Congo.
[7] In 1897 he returned to the Congo to become commission for Ubangi district, which had previously been abandoned by the Free State authorities.
[9] This case established legal precedent that it was illegal for the Free State to employ Congolese as forced labourers, but Fiévez himself was acquitted.