Ivory Coast: the trial of Guillaume Soro and 19 relatives opens in Abidjan
The former Ivorian rebel leader and former president of the National Assembly, Guillaume Soro, in Paris on January 29, 2020. Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP
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4 min
Ivorian justice is once again looking at the Guillaume Soro case this Wednesday, May 19.
After being sentenced, in April 2020, to twenty years in prison for money laundering and concealment of embezzlement of public funds, the former president of the National Assembly is this time prosecuted in particular for conspiracy and attack against the authority of the State. .
The Abidjan prosecutor accuses him, since the end of December 2019, of having fomented, with his relatives, an attempted insurrection in Côte d'Ivoire.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Pierre Pinto
Barring a twist, Guillaume Soro will not be in the box this Wednesday, May 19. The opponent lives in exile, in Europe, with his close guard composed in particular of his lawyer, the former minister Affoussiata Bamba Lamine, also prosecuted, or his director of communication, Moussa Touré, also in the crosshairs of the prosecutor . Among the exiles also prosecuted: the former deputy of Dabou, Sess Soukou Mohamed, alias Ben Souk.
Prosecuted with Guillaume Soro, nineteen of his relatives, many of whom are, like him, in exile, and others in pre-trial detention since December 2019 or January 2020. Among them, the former minister and former deputy
Alain Lobognon
, who was holding a press conference at the headquarters of Generation and People of Solidarity (GPS), the party of the former president of the National Assembly, when he was arrested on December 23, 2019 with fourteen other people.
Alain Lobognon announced last week in a press release that he was resigning from the Movement for the Promotion of New Values in Côte d'Ivoire (MVCI), a party that has just broken with the Soroist galaxy.
Its president, Félicien Sekongo, will also be in the box.
Another Soroist personality present, Souleymane Kone Kamaraté, alias Soul To Soul.
Faithful among the faithful of the former rebel leader, the director of protocol of Soro had already been the subject of prosecution after the discovery of a cache of weapons at his home, in Bouaké, in 2017 during the mutinies, before to be granted amnesty the following year.
The brothers of the former president of the National Assembly, Simon and Rigobert Soro, are also among the twenty accused.
Suspicion of conspiracy
On December 23, 2019, Guillaume Soro, aboard a private jet, was about to land in Abidjan when he suddenly diverted the aircraft to Ghana, for fear of being arrested when he got off the plane. A few moments later, the police swept over the headquarters of GPS, its movement, and arrested about fifteen people including the former minister Alain Lobognon. A few days later, the prosecutor Richard Adou explains: Guillaume Soro and some of his relatives are suspected of plotting a plot against the regime.
At the heart of the prosecution case,
a seven-minute audio recording
unveiled by the prosecutor.
We hear Guillaume Soro discussing with an interlocutor a project of "insurrection", his support in the army and among the former comzones, or even campaign projects of "communication to discredit the regime".
Added to this, according to the prosecutor, weapons seized during the investigation.
For its part, the Soro camp recognizes the existence of the recording but qualifies it as "incomplete and truncated".
According to the relatives of the former Pdt of the assembly, it would be a manipulation intended to trap him.
Last Friday, seven other companions of Guillaume Soro were tried in correctional for spreading false news and disturbing public order.
Seven people, including former deputies Camara Loukimane, Yao Soumaila, and Kando Soumahoro or the former candidate for mayor of Abobo Téhfour Koné, released last October after 10 months of detention.
They were sentenced to 9 months and therefore remain free.
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To read also: Ivory Coast: relatives of Guillaume Soro released
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Ivory Coast
Guillaume Soro
Justice