| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo''s party contests the conviction of its officials |
| 2025-02-14 |
| [AFRICANEWS] The Ivorian justice system sentenced Damana Adia, also known as Pickass, and Koua Justin, two officials from the PPA-CI, to ten years in prison without bail for public disorder and incitement to insurrection related to the pre-election violence of 2020. The secretary general of Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... 's party claims this is a political maneuver by the government to weaken their faction. Tch d Gervais, Secretary General of the PPA-CI, expressed outrage over these tailored sentences aimed at keeping key figures in Gbagbo's camp suppressed. He stated that the PPA-CI, which supports Gbagbo as its candidate for the October 2025 presidential election, believes the ruling party is attempting to eliminate any rivals that could obstruct its pursuit of perpetual power. The Ivorian public prosecutor, however, argues that the scheduling of the trial for Mr. Damana Pickass, Koua Justin, and their co-defendants, occurring just months before the 2025 presidential election, was not influenced by the electoral calendar, a claim the PPA-CI disputes. Tch d Gervais further noted that the lawyers for the convicted individuals have filed an appeal, and the party will support and mobilize for them, urging the government to stop imprisoning PPA-CI officials. He emphasized that they will remain focused on preparing for Laurent Gbagbo's presidential campaign. Additionally, the secretary general of Gbagbo's party confirmed that the opposition is collaborating to address a potential candidacy from President Alassane Ouattara ...the former president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... , although it is not yet time to discuss a unified opposition candidate. It is important to mention that the former Ivorian president is currently facing a conviction. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast President pardons dozens jailed for treason |
| 2024-02-25 |
| [AFRICANEWS] Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has pardoned and ordered the release of 51 people convicted of treason and other state security charges. The beneficiaries of the presidential clemency include military and civilian figures convicted of offenses committed during the post-electoral crisis and for endangering state security. Among those pardoned are General Dogbo Blé Brunot and Koné Kamaraté Souleymane. Souleymane was Guillaume Soro's head of protocol when he served as Prime Minister and head of the National Assembly. General Dogbo Bruno was the commander of the Republican Guard under former President Laurent Gbagbo. Their pardon was announced by the National Security Council in a statement on Thursday. Allies and war comrades, Soro fell out with Ouattara in 2019. Soro, who was in 2020 sentenced in absentia to twenty years in prison for embezzlement of public funds, and then to life imprisonment for "endangering state security" has been living in exile since. Related: Alassane Ouattara: 2024-01-30 The West's response to 'Russian Africa': France is overboard, the United States has a new strategy Alassane Ouattara: 2023-10-17 Ivory Coast: Governor Robert Beugré Mambé appointed Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara: 2023-10-07 Cote d'Ivoire: Prime Minister dismissed, reshuffle in sight |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast: Governor Robert Beugré Mambé appointed Prime Minister |
| 2023-10-17 |
| [AFRICANEWS] The governor of the Abidjan district and former head of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Robert Beugré Mambé, was named the new Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire on Monday and is expected to form a new government within the week, two years before the next presidential election. President Alassane Ouattara ...the former president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... asked the new Prime Minister to "propose a new government as soon as possible", announced the Secretary General of the Presidency, Abdourahmane Cissé, reading the decree appointing Mr. Mambé. Robert Beugré Mambé, 71, is particularly known in Côte d'Ivoire for having been president of the CEI between 2005 and 2010, before the serious post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011. He had assumed this crucial function in a torn country and was dismissed from his position a few months before the presidential election. This election led to a clash between supporters of Alassane Ouattara, the winner, and those of outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... , leaving more than 3,000 dead. A Protestant preacher with greying hair and father of four children, Robert Beugré Mambé has been the governor of the Abidjan district since 2011, a position where he oversaw the major transformations of the Ivorian economic capital. Elected deputy in 2018, he was promoted in 2022 within the Rassemblement des Houphouetistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix (RHDP), the ruling party, ahead of number 3 in this formation. Born in Abiaté, near Dabou (south), Mr. Mambé embodies a face from the south of the country, like his predecessor Patrick Achi , in an RHDP which has a strong electoral base in the north. He is also a defector from the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), a former single party that is now the main opposition party. The next presidential election is scheduled for the end of 2025 in Ivory Coast and Alassane Ouattara has not yet indicated whether or not he intends to run for a fourth term. In February 2022, he said he had half a dozen names in mind for his possible succession. The RHDP is the big favorite in this presidential election, especially after its overwhelming victory in the local elections in September where it won 60% of the municipalities and 80% of the regions. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Guinea: Trial of septembre 2009 massacre resumes |
| 2023-10-05 |
| [AFRICANEWS] Proceedings in the trial of the September 28, 2009, massacre in Guinea, resumed in Conakry on Tuesday (Oct. 3) after a judicial recess. Guinea's former strongman Moussa Dadis Camara and 10 former military and government officials are accused of the killing of 156 people and the rape of at least 109 women, carried out by security forces loyal to the then-junta leaders. Those who lost loved ones or carry scars on the tragic day wouldn't have missed this day despite concerns over the financing of the court proceeding, and hypothetical compensations. A meticulous president and countless lawyers have been questioning the accused and witnesses to establish responsibilities and seek to know, among many things, whether captain Moussa Dadis Camara ordered the crimes, consented to them or could have prevented them. "I'm very satisfied, I'm really very satisfied this morning. With this resumption, I'm sure we can move forward," the president of victims' association Asmaou Diallo said. "It's not just his (Moussa Thiégboro Camara's) men. He was there himself. He led the mission, you see. So everything we suffered came from his direct orders, his men, the orders came from Colonel Thiégboro," Mamadou Kaly Diallo, a victim says. The trial opened on the anniversary date in 2022 and has suffered several delays due to a protest movement by prison guards and a lawyers' strike. "We're delighted indeed [about the resumption] because this is a long-running trial, involving mass crimes, Halimatou Camara, a victims' lawyer says. "We've been at it for a year now, and we hope that in the coming months we'll be able to bring this trial to an end." "When there's no proof, even if you mention Colonel Thiegboro's name from start to finish of the trial it means absolutely nothing. We need to provide proof. Where is Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... today? He's in Ivory Coast. Where is Charles Blé Goudé? He's in Ivory Coast. Simply because they were summoned by the ICC and there was no evidence, they were simply acquitted. They came back to Ivory Coast." Representatives of the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , blocs including ECOWAS and the EU are among many welcoming "the progress made in the quest for justice for the victims". |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast: Gbagbo's electoral roll appeal rejected |
| 2023-07-01 |
| [AFRICANEWS] Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... has had his appeal to be included on the electoral role in the Ivory Coast rejected by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), his party announced in a statement on Friday. Gbagbo lodged an appeal with the CEI on June 8. "The claim by His Excellency Laurent Gbagbo, president of the African Peoples' Party - Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI), has been rejected," the statement said. Having been struck off the electoral roll, Mr. Gbagbo had lodged an appeal with the IEC on June 8. The former president was acquitted by international justice of crimes against humanity committed during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, but is still facing a 20-year prison sentence for the robbery of funds from Abidjan's central bank in 2011. Gbagbo was convicted in 2018 leading to the loss of civic and political rights and his removal from the electoral roll. According to the blurb, the former president "considers this non-registration [on the electoral roll] as a political manoeuvre aimed at removing him from political life" and "diminishing the ardor and mobilization of PPA-CI murderous Moslems and supporters for the upcoming local elections" on September 2. His party considers "that the CEI is under the control of the Head of State", Alassane Ouattara ...the former president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... , "and his regime". However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the document adds that Laurent Gbagbo "is not affected by this situation" and "intends to fight". In September, eight million voters are due to go to the polls in the country to re-elect municipal and regional councils, while a presidential election is scheduled for 2025. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast: Gbagbo files appeal for his name to be reinstated in electoral roll |
| 2023-06-09 |
| [AFRICANEWS] Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... , who has been struck off the electoral roll has filed an appeal to be registered to vote in local elections scheduled for September 2. The former Ivorian president said on Thursday that he would not let his name be "sullied". "I was taken to the ICC with tons of accusations: crimes against humanity, war crimes, rape. All that, but I was there. So I defended myself and I won, I was acquitted. Here they're hiding in secret and they're pinning an accusation on me. No. It's too political, it's not worthy of being called a trial" Gbagbo, said. "No, no and no I won't let my name be sullied without a fight. I'm still standing!" he hammered in a statement to the press, after lodging an appeal in person at an office of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) in Abidjan. Although Mr. Gbagbo has been acquitted by international justice of crimes against humanity committed during the bloody post-election crisis of 2010-2011, he remains under a 20-year prison sentence handed down in his absence in Côte d'Ivoire. The conviction, handed down in 2018 while he was imprisoned in The Hague, had led to the forfeiture of his civic and political rights. "Today, what President Bedié, Ouattara and I have to do is behave in such a way that we leave a peaceful Côte d'Ivoire to the younger generations. That must be our goal. Our goal is no longer to beat each other up. That time has passed" added the former Ivorian leader. Some eight million voters are due to go to the polls in Côte d'Ivoire on September 2 to renew municipal and regional councils. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2025. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Former Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo Files for Divorce |
| 2021-06-23 |
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] With faces like that you know they married each other for their money. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Exiled IvoryCoast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo to return June 17, a party official says |
| 2021-06-01 |
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
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| International-UN-NGOs |
| ICC judges erred by acquitting Ivory Coast's Gbagbo: prosecutors |
| 2020-06-23 |
| [NEWS.YAHOO] International Criminal Court judges made "fundamental and serious" errors when they cleared former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representative tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... of crimes against humanity last year, prosecutors said as they launched an appeal on Monday. Gbagbo and his right-hand man Charles Ble Goude were acquitted in January 2019 of charges over post-electoral violence in the restive West African nation in 2010-11 in which around 3,000 people died. Prosecutors want the acquittal overturned and a retrial at the court in The Hague, which was set up in 2002 to deal with the world's worst crimes. Helen Brady, senior appeals counsel for the ICC prosecution, said the gravest mistake was that judges did not make a proper written judgment at the time, instead handing down the decision to acquit the Ivorian pair orally. Brady said this was "no harmless procedural irregularity". "It tarnished the very essence of the judicial adjudicative process, thereby affecting the reliability and the integrity of the decision itself," she said. The prosecution said it had presented key elements of proof with 4,610 documents and 96 witnesses interviewed during the trial. Gbagbo, now 75, appeared by videolink for the hearing, which was conducted remotely because of coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)  ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...measures. He appeared bearded and wearing a casual top and listened through headphones. The one-time Ivorian strongman, the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC, was last month allowed to leave Belgium where he had been hosted under strict conditions since his release last year. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Belgium to take in ex-I.Coast president Gbagbo: ministry |
| 2019-02-04 |
| [CAPITALFM.CO.KE] Belgium has agreed to take in former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... following his acquittal at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a foreign ministry front man told AFP Saturday. "In response to a request from the International Criminal Court, Belgium has agreed to take in Laurent Gbagbo," said front man Karl Lagatie, who added that he did not know if the ex-president was already in Belgium. "That is also part of the framework of our support for international criminal jurisdictions," he added. The International Criminal Court finally freed Gbagbo on Friday after his shock acquittal last month on charges of crimes against humanity. He and his aide Charles Ble Goude had been cleared on January 15 over the wave of violence after disputed elections in the west African nation in 2010. But he was initially kept in jug after prosecutors argued that if released, he might not return for a retrial if January’s acquittal was overturned on appeal. He was released on condition that he stay in the host state until the court decides whether to let an appeal trial go ahead. Gbagbo was the first former head of state ever to stand trial at the ICC. |
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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo freed by war crimes court |
| 2019-02-02 |
| [CAPITALFM.CO.KE] The International Criminal Court finally freed former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... on Friday after his shock acquittal last month on charges of crimes against humanity. Supporters sang and waved flags in the Hague after judges agreed to release the 73-year-old on condition that he stays in an as-yet-unnamed country pending an appeal by the prosecution. Gbagbo, the first former head of state ever to stand trial at the ICC, and his aide Charles Ble Goude were cleared on January 15 over a wave of violence after disputed elections in the west African nation in 2010. More than 3,000 people died on both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to his internationally backed-rival ‐ and now-president ‐ Alassane Ouattara ...the former president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... ICC appeals judge Chile Eboe-Osuji said the court would release Gbagbo "to a state willing to accept them on its territory and willing to enforce the conditions set" by the court. Ivory Coast is an ICC member state, but the court may be unwilling to send Gbagbo to his homeland, given that it has refused to surrender Gbagbo’s wife Simone despite an outstanding ICC warrant for her arrest. Lawyers have previously cited the arrangement reached with former DR Congo warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, who went to Belgium after he was cleared by the ICC last year. |
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