Simone Gbabgo is no longer prosecuted by international justice.
The International Criminal Court has lifted the arrest warrant against the wife of the former Ivorian president, accused of crimes against humanity during the 2010-2011 crisis.
"The Chamber considers it appropriate to decide that the arrest warrant against Simone Gbagbo ceases to be effective," said the ICC, responding to a request from the prosecutor, in a seven-page decision, dated July 19 and made public Thursday evening.
"Good news for Simone Gbagbo (...), she will now be able to travel freely around the world," reacted her lawyer, Ange Rodrigue Dadjé, in a statement sent to AFP.
"This lifting of the mandate comes to definitively complete the proceedings against the Gbagbo before the ICC."
Continued since 2012
Simone Gbagbo had been requested by the ICC since 2012 for four counts of crimes against humanity - murder, rape, other inhumane acts and persecution, committed during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011.
This crisis, born of Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to recognize his defeat in the 2010 presidential election to Alassane Ouattara, had left more than 3,000 dead.
Last March, the ICC definitively acquitted Laurent Gbagbo, also prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
The latter was able to return to Côte d'Ivoire on June 17, after ten years of absence.
Unlike her husband, Simone Gbagbo had never been handed over to the ICC.
Abidjan has always considered that it is in a position to prosecute her for the same crimes as those alleged against her by the Court.
She was sentenced in March 2015 to 20 years in prison in Abidjan for endangering state security.
An insufficient sentence in the eyes of international justice which considered that Côte d'Ivoire "was not taking tangible measures" to try Simone Gbagbo, for the same crimes as those alleged by the ICC.
She was finally released on August 8, 2018, after seven years of detention, following an amnesty decreed by President Alassane Ouattara in order to promote national reconciliation.
The end of a tandem
This reconciliation continues with the return of Laurent Gbagbo to Côte d'Ivoire: Tuesday, he was received as president by his former rival Alassane Ouattara, for the first time in more than ten years.
The meeting took place in a warm atmosphere.
The two men gave each other a hug, held hands and exchanged several bursts of laughter.
"This crisis has created differences but it is behind us," commented Alassane Ouattara.
But if national reconciliation is progressing in Côte d'Ivoire, the rupture is now consummated within the Gbagbo couple.
As soon as he returned to Côte d'Ivoire, the former president requested a divorce from his wife because of his "repeated refusal for years to consent to an amicable separation".
The couple have been married since 1989 and have two daughters.
Laurent Gbagbo made his return to Côte d'Ivoire with Nady Bamba, a 47-year-old ex-journalist, his companion since the early 2000s to whom he is united by a customary marriage.
It remains to be seen whether Simone Ggabgo, 72, will now decide to embrace a political career alone, after having formed a formidable tandem with the former president in power from 2000 to 2011.
With AFP
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