Judges at International Criminal Court on Wednesday upheld the acquittal of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and youth minister Charles Ble Goude and ordered all conditions of their release removed, reported Africa News. The former president had been released conditionally to Belgium.
Trial judges acquitted Gbagbo and Goude on charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged role in post-election violence in Ivory Coast in 2010-11. The judges ended the trial after the prosecution completed its case and before the defense began, saying evidence submitted was not enough to support a conviction.
“The appeals chamber, by a majority, has found no error that could have materially affected the decision of the trial chamber,” said presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, reading the panel’s ruling. “The appeals chamber hereby revokes all remaining conditions on the release of Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Ble Goude as a result of this judgment.”
Gbagbo became the president of Ivory Coast in 2000. He was arrested in 2011 after his refusal to concede defeat to current President Alassane Ouattara. The civil conflict that followed killed 3,000 people. He was the first former head of state ever to be tried by the court. He was extradited to the ICC in 2011.
The 75-year-old had applied for last year’s presidential election, but his candidacy was not approved. Ouattara, who has been in power for almost a decade, was re-elected in last year’s November election for a controversial third term that was strongly contested by opposition leaders. He claimed that the two-term limit for Ivory Coast’s presidents does not apply to him due to a constitutional referendum passed in 2016.
Amnesty International West Africa researcher Michele Eken said the victims will be disappointed again by the court’s ruling.
Eken said the acquittal means the court has held no one responsible for atrocity crimes committed during the period.
