Acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo before the ICC: is a return to Côte d'Ivoire possible?
Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court, January 15, 2019 © AFP / Issouf Sanogo
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The ICC Appeals Chamber confirmed this Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the decision to acquit war crimes and crimes against humanity in favor of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé.
After more than ten years of proceedings before the ICC, the former Ivorian president and his former Minister of Youth, who live in Belgium and the Netherlands respectively, are therefore cleared.
The question now arises of their return to Côte d'Ivoire.
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The two men are in different situations.
Since December 4, Laurent Gbagbo has been in possession of two passports, an ordinary passport and a diplomatic passport.
These identity documents should allow him to return to Côte d'Ivoire.
But before that, his relatives discuss with the authorities, on the conditions of his return.
On the table in particular, his status as former head of state, his close guard, or the unblocking of his bank accounts.
To this is added the question: the sentence to 20 years in prison
in the case of the heist of the BCEAO
.
What steps for Charles Blé Goudé?
For his part, Charles Blé Goudé, will first have an ordinary passport established at the Ivory Coast consulate in The Hague.
The registry of the International Criminal Court should provide him with several documents attesting to the lifting of all the restrictive conditions imposed on him until then.
Another aspect, Charles Blé Goudé, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Ivorian justice for acts of torture, rape, assassinations committed between 2010 and 2011, intends to file an appeal to challenge this decision by asserting his acquittal which, according to his advice, relates to the same facts.
But it is impossible, they stress, to be tried twice for the same reasons as those on which a final acquittal has been pronounced.
I am very happy, very happy.
Simone Gbagbo, former Ivorian first lady
RFI
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To read also: Gbagbo and Blé Goudé acquitted: reactions in Côte d'Ivoire
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Ivory Coast
International justice
Laurent Gbagbo
Gbagbo trial
Charles Blé Goudé
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