ICC upholds acquittal of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo

THE HAGUE, Netherlands 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber has on Wednesday acquitted Former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo. 

The court said it has ‘confirmed, by majority, Trial Chamber I’s decision of 15 January 2019 acquitting Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé of all charges of crime against humanity.’

"The acquittal is now final." The Appeals Chamber stated. 

Gbagbo has been acquitted of crimes against humanity linked to the post-electoral violence in 2010 and 2011.

This decision hence paves the way for the return of the former president to Côte d’Ivoire, after a decade of absence.

Accused of four counts of crimes against humanity – murders, rapes, persecutions and other inhuman acts – Laurent Gbagbo, 75, and one of his relatives, Charles Blé Goudé, former leader of the Young Ivorian Patriots movement nicknamed “the general de la rue ”, were acquitted in January 2019 and released on conditions a month later.

The court’s outgoing attorney general, Fatou Bensouda, appealed the decision in September 2019, eight months after the acquittal.