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

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber Friday ordered the conditional release of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo.  The ICC also imposed the same conditions on Gbagbo’s right-hand man Charles Blé Goudé upon their release to a State willing to accept them on its territory.  Both Gbagbo and Blé Goudé were acquitted of all war crimes charges against them last month by The Hague-based war tribunal.   Gbagbo and Blé Goudé were accused of four counts of crimes against humanity (murder, rape, attempted murder, and persecution) allegedly committed in the context of post-electoral violence in  Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) between 16 December 2010 and 12 April 2011. Their trial opened on Jan. 28, 2016.  Both Gbagbo and Blé Goudé pleaded not guilty.  Gbabgo and Blé Goudé also requested the ICC to acquit them on grounds that there is not enough evidence to proceed with the trial.  In Friday’s Court Hearing, the ICC Appeals Chamber decided unanimously that conditions are to be imposed on Gbagbo and Blé Goudé with the hosting State willing and able to enforce the conditions set by the Court.  These conditions are imposed to protect the integrity of the process, the ICC said in a statement. The ICC will release a written Judgment setting out these conditions later Friday.

©ICC-CPI /  Gbagbo and Blé Goudé at the hearing held on 15 January 2019 before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. 

ICC DECISION TO ACQUIT GBAGBO: 

“The Majority, however, considered that the Prosecutor has failed to submit sufficient evidence to demonstrate the responsibility of Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Blé Goudé for the incidents under the Chamber’s scrutiny. In particular, having thoroughly analysed the evidence, the Chamber concluded by majority that the Prosecutor has failed to demonstrate several core constitutive elements of the crimes as charged, including the existence of a “common plan” to keep Mr. Gbagbo in power, which included the commission of crimes against civilians “pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organisational policy”; and the existence of patterns of violence from which it could be inferred that there was a “policy to attack a civilian population.”

The ICC Chamber, in last month, acquittal, further concluded, by majority, that the Prosecutor failed to demonstrate that public speeches by Gbagbo and Blé Goudé constituted ordering, soliciting or inducing the alleged crimes. The Chamber decided that, accordingly, there is no need for the defence to submit further evidence.

IT IS NOT KNOWN where Gbagbo and Blé Goudé will go after their release,  but may believe they will not go back to Ivory Coast-just yet.    There has been talk of France, Germany or Belgium as possibilities, since the countries are close to The Hague-based ICC, where both men can easily get to for any future summons before the ICC.

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

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

Last month, the ICC ordered the immediate acquittal of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé.  However , 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  that rejected a prosecution attempt to keep Gbagbo and Blé Goudé  in custody.  Bensouda’s reasoning is the two men were a “flight risk”.

Many Criticized ICC Prosecutor’s Attempt To Halt Immediate Release Of Gbagbo And Blé Goudé: 

“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 commentary –

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

This acquittals of all war crimes charges against Gbagbo And Blé Goudé and their subsequent release ,  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