Headlines: twenty years in prison for Guillaume Soro

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By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

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Former leader of the Ivorian rebellion Guillaume Soro, presidential candidate in October 2020, was sentenced yesterday to twenty years in prison for 'concealment of embezzlement of public funds' and 'money laundering' by the criminal court of Abidjan at the end of a hearing boycotted by its lawyers. Guillaume Soro is accused of having bought his Abidjan residence in 2007 with public funds.

A new arrest warrant has been issued against the former president of the National Assembly who, barring a fruitful appeal, is thus prohibited from standing for the presidential election in October.

"  Guillaume Soro sentenced to 20 years in prison  ", soberly entitled Fraternité Matin which is content to report this conviction on page 12.

L'Intelligent , another daily in Abidjan, publishes the official reaction of the person living in France: "  the travesty of trials which we have witnessed today is the ultimate proof that the rule of law is definitively buried by Alassane Ouattara, says Guillaume Soro. I consider this verdict as a non-event, I maintain my candidacy for the presidential election. We will win it, it is a certainty. "

Compensation "

So, it is useful to come back to the bottom of the case: the purchase of this famous villa ... "  It is the purchase in 2007 of his residence of Marcory Résidentiel, an upscale district of Abidjan, for a little more than a billion and a half CFA francs, which is the main accusation against Soro, then Prime Minister , recalls the Ivorian site Le Point Sur . According to the accusation, this villa was acquired by Soro via a real estate civil society, SCI Ebure, thanks to funds from the Ivorian public treasury. "

For its part, reports Jeune Afrique , "  Soro's entourage explains that the latter received this money as part of a compensation operation launched under the presidency of Laurent Gbagbo. Indeed, after the Ouagadougou peace agreements (in 2007), several Ivorian and foreign personalities, whose property had been degraded by 'patriots', were thus compensated. In addition to Soro, Blaise Compaoré's wife, Chantal, as well as Alassane Ouattara (himself ...), benefited from this compensation. The operation was overseen by Charles Koffi Diby, then Minister of the Economy and Finance (…) and by Marcel Amon-Tanoh, then Minister of Town Planning . "

Political wars

The Burkinabe press, which follows very closely the news from the neighbor of the Ivory Coast, is skeptical ... "  An arrest warrant, followed by a trial with a heavy conviction of a declared candidate for the presidential election, especially within a short distance of this deadline, can only raise questions and assumptions, believes Today . Not that Soro is not justiciable like any Ivorian, he is doubly so, because an economic crime of a high official is akin to high treason and must be punished. But since he refused to join the RHDP, we will have seen it, between Soro and Ouattara, it was war, muffled first and then frontal, via the media and social networks.  "

Random calendar?

The country , still in Ouagadougou, also wonders: “  one can wonder why it is now that these questions of embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, are put forward. Does this mean that during the whole time that Soro wisely stood in the ranks of power, he was snow white? Very clever who could answer this question. But, meanwhile, continues the Burkinabe daily , it is difficult to believe that these dirty files were not opportunely released for the needs of the cause. Because, President Ouattara has never stopped making it clear to someone who was, up to a certain time, considered rightly or wrongly as his "godson", that his future was within the RHDP. And if the Head of State lived the sling of his ex-protégé, following their quarrel, like an affront, concludes Le Pays , one can well wonder if this does not explain this . "

And suddenly, finally notes WakatSéra , "  Ouattara is sweeping and cleaning the road for his candidate, his current Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly who, unless the situation turns, will emerge from the presidential polls, scheduled for the end of October this year.  "

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