Former President of Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo has been definitively acquitted by the International Criminal Court. He could therefore return in the coming weeks to Abidjan.
This is the end of a soap opera which has lasted since April 11, 2011. Arrested by the forces of Alassane Ouattara ten years ago, Laurent Gbagbo was imprisoned eight months later with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accused of crimes against humanity. A charge that had caused much ink to flow. Amnesty International believed that "all those responsible for these serious crimes, including supporters of the incumbent President Alassane Ouattara, must be held to account in a fair trial". The NGO did not understand why only Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé were worried.
In January 2019, after a long and winding legal fight, the two former Ivorian political leaders were acquitted at first instance. Laurent Gbagbo, banned from leaving Belgian soil, where he was, had expressed the wish to return to Côte d'Ivoire. The former President of the Republic had to wait until May 2020 for the ICC to lift its conditional release constraints. Gbagbo then recovered his passport, but not in time to return to Abidjan the day after a highly contested presidential election. Especially since the current president did not necessarily want to see his ex-rival come back ...
A snub for Fatou Bensouda and the ICC
This Wednesday, March 31, 2021, Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé are completely free after the appeals chamber of the ICC confirmed their acquittal. They no longer have any charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity during the post-election crisis of 2011.
A disavowal for the prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who must leave office after failure. It was she who appealed in September 2019. But the "exceptional weakness" of the case, in the words of the president of the chamber, got the better of the Gambian, who leaves the ICC with her head down.
"Ten years almost to the day after the start of this procedure, this decision is the victory of justice, but also the victory of a man, that of President Laurent Gbagbo, unjustly accused and who today sees his innocence fully recognized. “, Simply announced Laurent Gbagbo's lawyer, Me Emmanuel Altit.
Towards a return as a national hero
For Gbagbo's counsel, "this decision goes in the direction of national reconciliation". A barely masked call to the Ivorian power, which slowed down when it came to evoking the return of the former president to his country. Last February, the Ivorian Minister of National Reconciliation, Kouadio Konan Bertin, had promised to meet Laurent Gabgbo to talk with him about his potential return to Abidjan.
There are now some details to work out. If Gbagbo can now travel freely, he is still sentenced to 20 years in prison in Côte d'Ivoire. And Alassane Ouattara announced in October that he "does not count the amnesty". However, the head of state promises to "take a decision that facilitates his return".
Is a deal about to be found between the president and his predecessor? Alassane Ouattara has already asked Laurent Gbagbo, through the media, to pose as "wise" and "to live a normal life". In other words, not to re-engage in politics.
The Ivorian authorities have in any case always promised to speed up the procedure for Gbagbo's return to Abidjan as soon as the final decision of the ICC is obtained. It is now done. Alassane Ouattara, who hoped to have a little more time, will therefore have to initiate the steps for a rapid return of the one that a whole country is waiting for. And for the Ivorian president, this operation is risky. Because with the popularity enjoyed by Laurent Gbagbo, Ouattara will inevitably emerge weakened by the return to the fold of the one who now serves as a national hero.