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News > World

Former Ivorian Leader Laurent Gbagbo Acquitted of War Crimes

  • Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo appears before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, January 15, 2019. Peter Dejong/Pool via REUTERS

    Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo appears before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, January 15, 2019. Peter Dejong/Pool via REUTERS | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 January 2019
Opinion

Ex-Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was acquitted of war crimes Tuesday, as an International Criminal Court at the Hague said that prosecutors failed to prove their case against the former leader.

International Criminal Court judges on Tuesday acquitted former Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo of all war crimes charges and ordered his immediate release.

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Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said that prosecutors failed to prove their case and Gbagbo and co-defendant Charles Blé Goudé, a close ally and former political youth leader, should be set free.

Gbagbo, who was president of Ivory Coast from 2000 until 201, was heavily backed by a plethora of supporters, who flocked to the International Court in their masses.

 

73 year-old Gbagbo had spent seven years in detention in The Hague accused of massacring thousands of people bloodshed after a defeat in the 2010 elections in the West African nation.

Gbagbo, along with his co-defendant Goudé, were accused of four counts of crimes against humanity against 3,000 people, which included murder, rape, persecution, and other inhumane acts. African News reported that the duo had been on trial since 2016, and that the "elderly and fragile" Gbagbo had been given the sympathy vote because of fast he'd aged during the course of the time spent in jail.

 
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