Laurent Gbagbo, who was paroled in Brussels after his acquittal by the ICC, applied for a passport to return to his country.
Former Ivorian First Lady Simone Gbagbo asked President Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday 11 August to “amnesty” her husband and issue him a passport to “facilitate reconciliation” in her country, three months before the presidential election. Former President Laurent Gbagbo, who is on parole in Brussels after his acquittal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has applied for a passport to return to Côte d’Ivoire.
“I would like to call on the head of state to issue an amnesty decree to make Laurent Gbagbo eligible. Whether or not Laurent Gbagbo is running in the presidential election, whether he is eligible,” Ms. Gbagbo, 69, said at a press briefing, the first since his release from prison two years ago. “I urge him to issue a diplomatic passport. He is entitled to it,” the vice-president of the opposition Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), the party created by her husband, continued.
Supporters of the former president recently denounced “his absence on the electoral list”. The president of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had explained that anyone sentenced to deprivation of civic rights was struck off the electoral roll.
A “political and unjustifiable” trial
In November 2019, the Ivorian judiciary sentenced Mr. Gbagbo in absentia on appeal to 20 years in prison for “robbing” the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis. Charles Blé Goudé, the former head of the Young Patriots, who is close to Mr. Gbagbo, was sentenced in December 2019 to 20 years in prison for crimes committed during the crisis, which left some 3,000 people dead.
“The arguments used to justify the removal of Laurent Gbagbo’s name from the electoral list are highly questionable legal arguments. Moreover, the trial that led to this conviction is itself political and unjustifiable,” Ms. Gbagbo reacted, also calling for amnesty for Guillaume Soro, the former president of the National Assembly in exile in France, and Mr. Blé Goudé.
The Ivorian government recently said it was processing the passport application of Mr. Gbagbo, whose return to Côte d’Ivoire is a major political issue three months before the presidential election. The FPI is urging him to stand for election. The former president between 2000 and 2010 was acquitted by the ICC of crimes against humanity and released after seven years in detention in The Hague. The court is currently considering an appeal by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
Source: Le Monde
