Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo (credit icc.int/
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Former President Laurent Gbagbo returned to his home in Ivory Coast Thursday after being acquitted on war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court. In January 2019, the ICC cleared Gbagbo of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and ordered his release from The Hague-based detention centre. 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. Gbagbo returned home to Ivory Coast city Abidjan to jubilant crowds of supporters after nearly 10 years. The 76-year-old ex-leader, who spent 7 years in detention, was the first head of state to stand trial at The Hague Netherlands war tribunal. Gbagbo, who was in power since 2000, was sent to The Hague court in 2011 after some 3,000 people were killed in a months-long conflict in Ivory Coast that followed his refusal to accept electoral defeat at the hands of incumbent President Alassane Ouattara. Many in Ivory Coast are hoping the former leader’s return home is the beginning of a reconciliation in the deeply politically divided west African nation.
“Gbagbo came home to help rebuild Ivory Coast. His coming home is the beginning of reconciliation because it shows he has a good, forgiving heart even after spending almost 10 years in jail falsely accused of war crimes.”
-Ivory Coast citizen said.
The ICC also acquitted Gbagbo’s right-hand man Charles Blé Goudé from all war crime charges. 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 December 2020, Ivory Coast gave back the passport of its former president Gbagbo, paving the way for his return home to Abidjan. The government of the Ivory Coast previously took to position that it opposed Gbagbo’s unconditional release by the ICC because his return would destabilize the west African country.
President Alassane Dramane Ouattara Blocked Gbagbo’s return before 2020 Elections
Gbagbo hade made multiple unsuccessful requests to the foreign minister in Abidjan for a diplomatic passport. However, the Ivory Coast government of president Alassane Dramane Ouattara was vehemently opposed to having Gbagbo return home before the November 2020 elections, as he remains extremely popular and could have shaken up the vote. Ouattara, who broke a promise not to seek a third term, garnered 94 percent of the 2020 Presidential vote. The main opposition candidates boycotted the election and called on supporters to stay at home as an act of civil disobedience.
The fact of the matter, former president Gbagbo remains very popular in Ivory Coast, and Ouattara may be attempting to appease his supporters, given what happened next to in Mali when a military coup overthrew the President.
