Credit:  ©ICC-CPI/   Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands

By Gary Raynaldo  DIPLOMATIC TIMES

A last-minute appeal by International Criminal Court Prosecutors late Wednesday will keep former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo locked up in The Hague war tribunal pending a hearing next month on Gbabgo’s detention.  The ICC Tuesday cleared Gbagbo of all war crimes and ordered his immediate release from The Hague-based detention centre.  ICC judges ordered the 73-year-old ex-leader set free. Gbagbo, who has been in custody 7 years,  was  the first head of state to stand trial at The Hague Netherlands war tribunal. The ICC also acquitted Gbagbo’s right-hand man Charles Blé Goudé  from all war crime charges.  ICC judges ruled on Tuesday that prosecutors had failed to prove any case against Gbagbo and co-defendant Blé Goudé  and that their continued detention could no longer be justified.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda Desperate To Salvage The ‘Credibility’ Of The Hague War Tribunal  

Credit: : ©ICC-CPI/  ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

Led by ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou  Bensouda, prosecutors then scrambled to put together a last-minute petition to a higher panel of five appeals judges to overturn a trial chamber ruling on Wednesday that rejected a prosecution attempt to keep Gbagbo and Blé Goudé  in custody.  Bensouda’s reasoning is the two men are a “flight risk”.  In the prosecutor’s appeal, it stated:

“there is a concrete risk that, once released, the accused will not appear for the continuation of the proceedings in this case including the present appeal.”

 ICC Prosecution Appeal to keep Gbagbo and  Blé Goudé  in custody.

Below Is ICC Prosecutor’s Appeal To Keep Gbagbo and  Blé Goudé Incarcerated In The Hague:

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court , by majority, Judge Howard Morrison and Judge Piotr Hofmański dissenting, decided that Mr Laurent Gbagbo and Mr Charles Blé Goudé shall remain in ICC custody pending the Appeals Chamber’s decision on the Prosecution’s Appeal against the decision of ICC Trial Chamber I in relation to the release of Mr Laurent Gbagbo and Mr Charles Blé Goudé following their acquittal. The Appeals Chamber suspended the effect of Trial Chamber I’s decision to release Mr Laurent Gbagbo and Mr Charles Blé Goudé and scheduled a hearing on 1 February 2019 to hear further submissions on the appeal, and ordered the submission of the appeal brief of the Prosecutor no later than 23 January 2019 as well as responses thereto from Mr Gbagbo, Mr Blé Goudé and the victims participating in the proceedings no later than 29 January 2019.

Many Criticize ICC Prosecutor’s Decision To Halt The Immediate Release Of Gbagbo And Blé Goudé: 

“This is proof that Black people will never have fair trial. For years the prosecutor couldn’t proof all the crimes they being charged of. Shame on this court, shame to the judges. I’m crying deeply in my heart.”     

“Detaining a person that has been cleared by the court even for one day isn’t justice. That’s scandalous! We have never seen such thing before.”

“Gbagbo “Under article 81(3)(c) of the Rome Statute, in the case of an acquittal, the person shall be released immediately.” … a request to maintain the detention of the person under exceptional circumstances may be made. – WHAT’S EXCEPTIONAL ABOUT THEIR CASE”

Social media responses

Is The ICC Biased Against African Leaders In Its Decisions To Prosecute Alleged War Criminals?

Credit: ©ICC-CPI/  ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

This week’s acquittals of all war crimes charges against Gbagbo And Blé Goudé is a major blow to the credibility of the ICC; and bolsters the belief of those who maintain the ICC is biased and targets African leaders inappropriately. 

“The ICC was supposed to address the whole world, but it ended up covering only Africa. From the time of its inception, I said there was a fraud basis on which it was set up and how it was going to be used. I told people that this would be a court to try Africans, not people from across the world. And I don’t believe I have been proven wrong.”

Rwandan President Paul Kagame

In The Past 7 Months,  The ICC Has Reversed 3 High Profile  Prosecutions Of African Leaders

Credit: ©ICC-CPI/   Former DR Congo rebel Jean-Pierre Bemba was also accused of war crimes by the ICC, and ultimately convicted of the charges 2016.  However, the ICC’s Appeal judges in June 2018 overturned Bemba’s 2016 conviction, when he was found guilty of two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes. He had been sentenced to 18 years in jail. The Hague-based ICC ruled Bemba, 56-years-old, could not be criminally liable for the crimes committed by his troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003.

International Criminal Court Scorecard: 12 Years, $1 Billion, 2 Convictions 

Credit:  ©ICC-CPI/  International Criminal Court’s Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands

“Is The ICC  Too Expensive and Inefficient To Justify?”,   is a question David Davenport, writing in Forbes Magazine, explores. 

Davenport writes in the article that the ICC has 34 judges, over 700 staff, and an annual budget of $166 million.  “They say you can’t put a price on justice but $500 million per warlord conviction seems high by any standard.  And what do 34 judges do all day?”, Davenport.