By RFIPosted on 07-11-2019Modified on 07-11-2019 at 20:14

Charles Blé Goudé will be well judged in Abidjan. Former Minister of Youth Laurent Gbagbo is still under house arrest in The Hague, after being acquitted by the ICC, pending the appeal of the prosecutor's appeal. His case opened in Abidjan before his transfer to the ICC is still open.

On Wednesday, in Abidjan, his group of lawyers slammed the door of a hearing with the Indictment Division and withdrew from the case to denounce a procedure they consider biased. This Thursday, the Prosecutor General of the Abidjan Court of Appeal was keen to respond point by point.

Attorney General of the Court of Appeal Marie-Leonard Lebry explained that the file of Charles Blé Goudé was opened in 2012 for offenses committed in 2010-2011 under the qualifications of "crimes against civilians" and "crimes against prisoners of war ". What is now called, since the recent reform of the Penal Code in Côte d'Ivoire, "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes".

The Ivorian judiciary had launched a prosecution for acts of torture, willful homicide, rape or murder committed by himself or his supporters during the self-defense checkpoints in 2010 and 2011 .

At the hearing Wednesday, from which the lawyers withdrew, the investigating chamber retained a number of these offenses. We do not have the details yet. " But it can be said that he will be judged, " said the attorney general.

The magistrate also specifies that the incriminated facts are not the same as those tried at the ICC and for which Charles Blé Goudé was acquitted at first instance in January.

Another clarification: the alleged facts are not amnestied by the ordinance of August 2018, because "it was a personal amnesty, not an amnesty that related to facts. And Charles Blé Goudé did not benefit from this personal amnesty ".

Charles Blé Goudé will therefore be tried by a criminal court, the equivalent of a court of assizes. Perhaps by default therefore, since it is still stuck in The Hague pending the outcome of the proceedings before the ICC, and that there is no indication that the Ivorian justice intends to wait until he can return Ivory Coast to judge him.

► To listen and read also: Charles Blé Goudé: "I am Ivorian, not Dutch"

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