Presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire: the African court of justice challenges the exclusion of Laurent Gbagbo
Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo demonstrate in front of the Independent Electoral Commission after the invalidation of the candidacy of their leader, in Abidjan, August 31, 2020. SIA KAMBOU / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
36 days before the presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, the African Court of Human Rights is once again entering the debate.
Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, whose candidacy was invalidated by the Constitutional Council on September 14, scores a point.
The Court ordered the suspension of his conviction by the Ivorian justice in the so-called “breakage of the BCEAO” case and his re-registration on the electoral list.
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With our correspondent Abidjan
,
Pierre Pinto
It is an ordinance, that is to say a provisional decision taken by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, pending its ruling on the merits on Laurent Gbagbo's request.
The Court therefore orders Côte d'Ivoire to "
suspend the mention of the criminal sanction of the criminal record
" of Laurent Gbagbo, and "
to take all the necessary measures to immediately remove all obstacles preventing the applicant from registering. on the electoral list
”.
On the merits therefore, Laurent Gbagbo disputes his removal from the electoral list.
His appeals last August were all rejected in Côte d'Ivoire.
He therefore seized the African Court on September 7.
His removal from the list had been led to a conviction in his absence to 20 years in prison for the so-called “BCEAO robbery” case, by the Ivorian justice in January 2018, while he was detained in The Hague by the ICC.
A victory therefore for the former Ivorian pdt.
However, his removal was only one of the three arguments put forward by the Constitutional Council to justify the rejection of his presidential candidacy.
The judges also invoked the fact that he had not signed his nomination paper in person.
And that he had not expressly renounced his status as an ex officio member of the Constitutional Council, another reason for inadmissibility of candidacy.
Côte d'Ivoire, which refuses to apply the decisions of the African Court and which has begun to withdraw its declaration of jurisdiction, was not represented at the hearing.
To read the order of the African Court of Human Rights: click here
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Ivory Coast
Alassane Ouattara
Laurent Gbagbo