While Laurent Gbagbo prepares his return to Côte d'Ivoire, Guillaume Soro could receive a life sentence for conspiracy against the state.
Chance of the calendar: whilehe will make his comeback in Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo will benefit from greater leniency than his former Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro. Both were however sentenced to 20 years in prison. While Alassane Ouattara had promised to do everything in his power to ensure that Laurent Gbagbo avoids a passage through the prison box on his return to Abidjan, the President of the Republic had been less gentle with Guillaume Soro. "For him it will be prison," he assured. There is no doubt about it ”. While Soro was already sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds, Ouattara added: "He deserves life imprisonment for what he has done".
A perpetuity which could well be effective at the end of the trial of the former Prime Minister of Laurent Gbagbo then of Alassane Ouattara. Soro has been on trial with around 19 of his supporters since May XNUMX. Guillaume Soro is notably accused of "conspiracy", "attempted attack against the authority of the State" and "dissemination and publication of false news discrediting the institutions and their functioning, having resulted in an attack on morale. populations ”.
A political trial?
Richard Adou, prosecutor of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, known for his harshness towards the historical opponents of Alassane Ouattara, requested, at the end of the trial, life imprisonment against Guillaume Soro. Several of his ex-collaborators could face 20 years in prison.
Guillaume Soro in exile, he was not present during his trial. But the defense denounced "far too many perjuries and forfeitures in this file" and a "political trial". The prosecutor also called for the dissolution of Generations and Solidarity Peoples (GPS), the political movement of Soro. This “shows the political nature of the trial. Because it is not for the criminal judge to pronounce the dissolution of an association. There is no conspiracy, no attack on the authority of the State, ”indicated the lawyer for the former president of the National Assembly.
At the time of a return of Laurent Gbagbo, the situation of Guillaume Soro contrasts with that of the former president. If the life imprisonment requested by the public prosecutor is announced, this should put an end to any political inclination of Guillaume Soro, whose candidacy for the 2020 presidential election had already been rejected due to his sentence to 20 years in prison.