Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé were definitively acquitted. The ICC Court of Appeal delivered its decision this Wednesday, March 31, afternoon in The Hague. News that was eagerly awaited by ...

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé acquitted: reactions in Côte d'Ivoire

Supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo celebrate the announcement of his final acquittal on March 31, 2021. AFP - SIA KAMBOU

Text by: RFI Follow

6 mins

Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé were definitively acquitted.

The ICC Court of Appeal delivered its decision this Wednesday, March 31, afternoon in The Hague.

A news which was eagerly awaited by the militants and sympathizers of the FPI, the party of Gbagbo, and which caused scenes of jubilation in Ivory Coast.

Publicity

In the Selmer district of Yopougon where our correspondent

Sidy Yansané went

, the maquis Tantie Margot has turned into a mini-cinema for the live broadcast of the ICC hearing.

As the judge dismisses the prosecution's grounds of appeal, the cries of joy intensified.

Then comes the apotheosis when the final acquittal of former president Laurent Gbagbo and his minister Charles Blé Goudé is confirmed.

The hundred activists present rejoiced.

“

We are more than happy, we are overflowing with joy, we are happy.
It's finish !
We won !

I am so moved, words fail me.

We say thank you to God and we pray that President Laurent Gbagbo returns quietly to his country.

In Yopougon, supporters of Laurent Gbagbo celebrate the ICC decision

Sidy Yansane

Dressed in a set bearing the effigy of Laurent Gbagbo, the voice of this activist is half broken by emotion: “

Today, for me, it's a day of madness.
This is the release we have been waiting for a decade, thank God it happened.
It is the liberation of the whole of Africa, from Laurent Gbagbo, of Côte d'Ivoire in particular.
We must declare this day a day of joy!

There is only one step left for a total victory: the return to the country of the ex-accused Gbagbo and Blé Goudé.

#Gbagbo definitively acquitted by the ICC.

#civ pic.twitter.com/xTqmgkhXzr

- Sidy Yansane (@SidyYansane) March 31, 2021

The "return of a man of peace"

Within the political class, Georges Armand Ouégnin, president of the platform Together for Democracy and Sovereignty (EDS), believes that the return of the former Head of State to Côte d'Ivoire is necessary for reconciliation and current authorities have no interest in preventing his return.

“

Laurent Gbagbo is a free Ivorian citizen, he must and will return home with, I think, the help of power.
I believe he has no interest in preventing this return.
It is an Ivorian who returns and I think that the current power should be able to appropriate this return.
It is a former Ivorian president who returns home, he must be welcomed with all the honors due to his rank.
I dare to hope and I do not think there will be a problem, because Ivorians need reconciliation and peace.
And we will ensure that people understand that it is a man of peace who is returning and that it is as such that he must be welcomed in Côte d'Ivoire.

Disappointment of the victims of the political crisis

But on the side of associations of victims of violence, it is on the other hand the concern that prevails.

This is an “

unfair

”

decision

for Issiaka Diaby, president of the Collective of Crisis Victims in Côte d'Ivoire, who does not hide his disappointment.

For him justice has not been done to the victims.

“

A victim who has not obtained justice and reparation is potentially predisposed to revenge.
How do you get rid of this predisposition to want revenge or to take legal action in the field in the hearts of victims?
This is our concern.
Initially, the ICC began to worry perpetrators.
Today, in Côte d'Ivoire, the International Criminal Court no longer scares anyone.
The ones and the others believe that it is a giant with feet of clay, ineffective.

A feeling shared by Karim Koulibaly, one of the victims of the repression attributed to the former Ivorian president.

The ICC decision has shattered his last hope of being compensated.

“

Our hope was that the ICC, an international body, gives at least satisfaction to the victims of Côte d'Ivoire.
So finally, we, the victims, we no longer understand anything.
And when I speak of a mortgaged future, I am a victim of the crisis, I have been mutilated and amputated of my left leg, and today I have a family, mouths to feed and I cannot more to make ends meet.
There are several among us, others are paraplegic or mutilated, these people are in difficult situations and they are not assisted by the government in place.
That is why I am talking about a mortgaged future.

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé acquitted: reactions in Côte d'Ivoire

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé acquitted: reactions in Côte d'Ivoire

The "return of a man of peace"

Disappointment of the victims of the political crisis

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