Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara has said that his predecessor, the ex-president Laurent Gbagbo can return home.
Ouattara said Gbagbo’s his right-hand man Charles Ble Goude can also return home after the duo were definitively acquitted of crimes against humanity.
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld the acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo on crimes against humanity charges.
Judges dismissed an appeal by prosecutors over the 2019 decision to clear him and his Charles Ble Goude over a wave of post-electoral violence.
More than 3,000 people were killed in the brief civil war that followed the disputed 2010 vote when Mr. Gbagbo refused to step down despite losing.
Gbagbo was the first head of state to stand trial at the tribunal. He denied all charges over the bloodshed.
His trial started in January 2016, but three years later judges found that prosecutors had “failed to satisfy the burden of proof to the requisite standard.”
It was one of the ICC’s biggest failures since it was set up in 2002 as the world’s only permanent war crimes court.
President Ouattara now says his former rival can return home after the complete acquittal by the ICC.
Mr. Gbagbo is to be allowed the advantages and allowances available to all former leaders in the Ivory Coast.
In a cabinet meeting in Abidjan on Wednesday, President Ouattara said “arrangements will be made so that Laurent Gbagbo can enjoy, in accordance with the laws in place, the advantages and allowances available to former presidents.”
Gambia: Tension heightens over reported return of Yahya Jammeh
Source: Africafeeds.com
