Former Ivorian First Lady Simone Gbagbo acquitted
Former Ivorian First Lady Simone Gbagbo in court in Abidjan on October 10, 2016 before the re-opening of her trial. PHOTO | SIA KAMBOU | AFP
What you need to know:
- Once dubbed Cote d’Ivoire’s “Iron Lady”, Gbagbo, who was not in court on Tuesday, is already serving a 20-year sentence for “endangering state security”.
- The prosecution, in summing up its case against the 67-year-old wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday, had called on the jury to find her “guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentence her to life imprisonment,” prosecutor Aly Yeo said.
ABIDJAN, Wednesday
A Cote d’Ivoire jury yesterday acquitted former First Lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis after the prosecution had sought to have her jailed for life.
“A majority of the jury declared Simone Gbagbo not guilty of the crimes of which she has been accused, pronounced her acquittal and ordered that she be immediately freed if she is not being held for other reasons,” the head of the country’s top criminal court, judge Kouadjo Boiqui, said.
Once dubbed Cote d’Ivoire’s “Iron Lady”, Gbagbo, who was not in court on Tuesday, is already serving a 20-year sentence for “endangering state security”.
The prosecution, in summing up its case against the 67-year-old wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday, had called on the jury to find her “guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentence her to life imprisonment,” prosecutor Aly Yeo said.
He described her as a shadowy figure who orchestrated attacks on her husband’s opponents.
“After her spouse came to power, she started to impose herself as the real head of Cote d’Ivoire, the army, the police and gendarmerie,” Yeo said.
Laurent Gbagbo is on trial for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution, having been handed over in November 2011 to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands.
