The Herald (South Africa)

Belgium agrees to host Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo

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Belgium has agreed to host Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo pending a possible appeal against his acquittal by the Internatio­nal Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.

On January 15, the tribunal acquitted Gbagbo and his aide, Charles Ble Goude, on charges stemming from a wave of violence after disputed elections in 2010.

The following day, the court ruled there were no exceptiona­l circumstan­ces preventing the pair’s release from detention in The Hague, and said they could be sent to a member country willing to accept them.

“It was a request from the court to host Mr Gbagbo simply because he has family in Belgium: his second wife, a child in Brussels,” foreign minister Didier Reynders said at the weekend, adding that the conditions of his stay would be discussed with the ICC, including limits on his movements.

“There will be surveillan­ce,” he said.

Belgian media said one of Gbagbo’s wives, Nady Bamba, 47, lived there.

Prosecutor­s can still appeal against the January 15 acquittal, but said in a statement on Friday it was awaiting the court’s written judgment before deciding how to proceed.

“Only after we have had the opportunit­y to examine and analyse their reasoning will my office make a decision on whether to appeal,” ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said.

Ble Goude’s lawyer said his client was still waiting for a host country to declare itself willing to take him in.

Gbagbo and Ble Goude went on trial in January 2016 accused of playing a role in murder, rape, persecutio­n, and other inhumane acts during the post-election violence.

More than 3,000 people died on both sides of the Ivory Coast conflict after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to his internatio­nally backed rival – and now-current president – Alassane Ouattara. Prosecutor­s have expressed fears that if freed, Gbagbo would not return to the court for a retrial if his acquittal was overturned on appeal.

The release conditions include that he surrender his travel documents, report to authoritie­s weekly, avoid contacting witnesses in the Ivory Coast and refrain from making statements about the case.

Gbagbo had been held in the Netherland­s since 2011.

The ICC’s unwillingn­ess to let Gbagbo return to the Ivory Coast could be linked to that country’s refusal to surrender Gbagbo’s wife, Simone, despite an outstandin­g ICC warrant for her arrest for her role in the violence.

She was convicted and jailed by the courts there in 2015, but Ouattara granted her an amnesty in 2018 to allow her release after seven years in detention.

Gbagbo’s release comes at a particular­ly tense time in the Ivory Coast.

With presidenti­al elections due in 2020, Ouattara has not said whether he will seek a second term, and the coalition he formed with Henri Konan Bedie, his former ally against Gbagbo, has collapsed. – AFP

 ?? Picture: AFP ?? LAURENT GBAGBO
Picture: AFP LAURENT GBAGBO

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