Credit:  ©ICC-CPI/   Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands January 2019. 

By Gary  Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Not content with the International Criminal Court‘s acquittal of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo of all war crime charges,  the  ICC’s top prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has been working tirelessly to put him back in jail.  In January 2019, the ICC cleared Gbagbo of charges of crimes against humanity and he was released from The Hague-based detention centre.  Then comes Bensouda who swiftly appealed the war crime tribunal’s acquittal of Gbagbo.  ICC judges are hearing  the appeal today and Tuesday in The Hague.   In her appeal claim,  Bensouda said  the court erred in clearing Gbagbo and his right-hand man Charles  Blé Goudé  of allegations of post-electoral violence in the restive West African nation in 2010-2011, in which about 3,000 people died.  The   ICC Appeals Chamber will  hold a partially virtual hearing in the case due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Gbagbo participated via video call from Belgium, while  Blé Goudé   was present in the courtroom on Monday.  Gbagbo, 75, who spent 8 years in ICC custody,  was  the first head of state to stand trial at The Hague war tribunal.   ICC judges ruled 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.The ICC prosecutor also appealed Blé Goudé’s acquital.  The ICC last month ruled that Gbagbo is allowed to leave Belgium where he was being hosted under strict conditions since his release from the court, but said he must return for the prosecution’s appeal.

Credit: ©ICC-CPI  /  Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé at their acquittal hearing held on 15 January 2019 before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands

ICC  DECISION TO ACQUIT  LAURENT 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. ”      ICC Judges Jan. 15, 2019 

The ICC Chamber 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.

Credit: icc.int/flickr / Charles  Blé Goudé appeared in person at the  Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague during  a partially virtual hearing in the Gbagbo and Blé Goudé case to hear the observations of Parties and Participants on the Prosecutor’s appeal against the acquittal decision in this case June 23, 2020. 

“The judges used the standard that any judge would have used . The prosecutor’s evidence is so weak that it meets no standard of proof, even the lowest.  “

-Dov Jacobs, a lawyer for the former Ivorian head of state Laurent Gbagbo

Bensouda  Failed Prosecution of  DR Congo VP  Jean-Pierre Bemba 

Credit: : ©ICC-CPI/  ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda  badly needs a conviction of a high-profile case such as Laurent Gbagbo to justify the Hague court’s  raison d’être.   After nearly 20 years since its the ICC formation and more that $1 Billion spent on scores of prosecutions, mostly Africans,  there has only been 3 war crimes convictions obtained by the court.  Many are of the opinion the ICC  is  too expensive and inefficient to justify; and that it is biased in bringing  prosecutions for war crimes mostly against African leaders. 

The acquittals were a terrible blow for Bensouda that added to the long list of prosecution setbacks, including the collapse of war crimes charges against several Kenyan leaders and the acquittal of former Congolese Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba.

Gbabgo Is The Second Major African Leader To Be Cleared Of All War Crime Charges By The ICC Credit: International Criminal Court:  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.

Secretary Of State Pompeo Blasts ICC’s Decision To Probe U.S. War Crimes In Afghanistan  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo  said the  U.S. will not tolerate the ICC ’s “inappropriate and unjust attempts to investigate or prosecute Americans” for alleged war crimes crimes committed by U.S., Afghan, and Taliban troops in Republic of Afghanistan.   The Appeals Chamber of the  (ICC)  unanimously decided earlier this month to authorize its chief  Prosecutor to commence an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by American troops in Afghanistan.  In November 2017, ICC  head prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges to open an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network fighters, as well as U.S. forces and intelligence officials in Afghanistan since May 2003.   The ICC is seeking  to hold the U.S. accountable for alleged war crimes including torture of detainees by C.I.A. operatives at secret prisons known as “black sites.”