Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has said his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo and his youth leader Charles Ble Goude are “free to return to Ivory Coast when they want” after they were definitively acquitted of crimes against humanity.
Ouattara’s remarks on Wednesday came a week after the International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld Gbagbo’s acquittal, with appeals judges confirming that he was finally in the clear over a wave of post-electoral violence in 2010-11.
“Arrangements will be made so that Laurent Gbagbo can enjoy, in accordance with the laws in place, the advantages and allowances available to former presidents,” Ouattara said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Abidjan.
Gbagbo has been living in Brussels under the ICC’s orders since his release from detention in 2019. Last week’s ruling definitively clears him of four charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and rape committed during the conflict.
The 75-year-old has retained strong support at home despite spending years behind bars in The Hague, and has been positioning himself for a potential comeback since last year.
Casting himself as a conciliatory figure, he warned of the risk of “catastrophe” in the face of rising tension as the country headed to presidential elections last year.
Many people died in unrest after Ouattara announced his bid for a third term, a plan that critics said scorned constitutional limits on presidential tenure. Ouattara maintained the two-term limit for presidents does not apply to him because of a constitutional referendum passed in 2016.
Source: Aljazeera.com
The post Gbagbo ‘free to return’ to Ivory Coast, says President Ouattara appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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