Ivorian firebrand is charged at the ICC

PHOTO | AFP RADICAL: Ble Goude galvanised support for Gbagbo with fiery speeches urging mass mobilisation against what he called pro-Ouattara “rebels’’ and their foreign backers, France and the UN.

What you need to know:

  • Gbagbo’s ‘Street General” fnally in the dock
  • The leader of the so-called “Young Patriots”, a fanatical group of Gbagbo supporters, is facing four counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the 2010-11 unrest which the UN said left 3,000 people dead.

THE HAGUE

Ivorian ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s right-hand man Charles Ble Goude faced International Criminal Court judges for the first time Thursday, proclaiming his innocence over deadly post-election violence three years ago.

The leader of the so-called “Young Patriots”, a fanatical group of Gbagbo supporters, is facing four counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the 2010-11 unrest which the UN said left 3,000 people dead.

A smiling Ble Goude, 42, greeted his supporters in the public gallery with a clenched-fist salute, giving his name, age and profession: “Consultant in political communication.”

“I know that I will go home,” the former youth minister said, wearing a grey suit, white shirt and light blue tie. “If I’m tried for what I did rather than for what I am, I will be proclaimed innocent,” he said, echoing accusations in Cote d’ Ivoire Coast of a victor’s justice after the bloody post-election crisis.

Also called Gbagbo’s “Street General”, Ble Goude was arrested in Ghana more than a year ago and extradited to Cote d’Ivoire, but authorities had been hesitant to send him to the world’s only permanent war crimes court.

“Contrary to some people who think that travelling to the ICC is a one-way journey, I think a citizen can be tried and go home,” Ble Goude said.

He slammed the “cavalier” way he was arrested “in my sleep” in Ghana in January 2013, after more than a year-and-a-half on the run, as well as his detention conditions in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Ivorian crisis started with Gbagbo’s refusal to concede defeat in November 2010 elections, sparking armed clashes that killed more than 3,000 people.

CONFIRMATION HEARING

His election rival Alassane Ouattara, now the president, eventually ousted his rival thanks to international military backing. Judges said they would hold a confirmation hearing for Ble Goude on August 18 over charges including rape, murder and persecution.

Abidjan’s decision to transfer Ble Goude was surprising given its prior refusal to send Gbagbo’s wife Simone, also wanted by the ICC, on the grounds that its own courts offered sufficient guarantees of a fair trial.

Gbagbo loyalists are still a force to be reckoned with in Ivorian politics and Ouattara had in recent months tried to foster reconciliation with gestures toward the opposition.

“I learnt reconciliation with Gbagbo,” Ble Goude told the court. “I’m pro-Gbagbo and proud of it,” he said.

Ble Goude on Sunday joined his former boss at the ICC’s detention unit in a seaside suburb of The Hague.

Gbagbo, who was transferred to the Netherlands in late 2011, also faces four counts of crimes against humanity but the court has yet to confirm the charges, pending further investigation.

Ble Goude told AFP in an interview in 2012 that he was not afraid of going to the ICC.

“I am not an advocate of weapons, I never maintained a single militia. If the ICC wants to invite me for having organised protest marches, I have no problem appearing before the ICC,” he said.