LATEST! Ex-Ivory Coast leader pleads not guilty to atrocities
Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo pleaded not guilty from the beginning of the International Criminal Court’s first trial of an ex-head of state to four counts of crimes against humanity.
Gbagbo is accused jointly with a former youth minister, Charles Ble Goude, of participation in atrocities that left 3,000 people dead after West African country. contested 2010 presidential election run-off in their Ble Goude also pleaded not guilty to four charges as the trial started. Both guys listened intently as a court official read outside claims they plotted to keep Gbagbo in power “by all necessary means, including by perpetrating the offenses charged.”Despite the charges, Gbagbo remains popular among some Ivoirians.
Dozens massed outside the court in front of the trial, which can be anticipated to continue many months, to show their support.
After returning to Ivory Coast, he spent six months for his part in student demonstrations and lost the 1990 presidential vote.
He came to power in 2000 in a defective vote he himself described as “calamitous,” although he put off holding another one for a decade.
Gbagbo put with 38 percent of the vote in the very first round before losing to Alassane Ouattara in the run-off. Ble Goude each and Gbagbo face four crimes against humanity charges, including rape and murder allegedly perpetrated by pro-Gbagbo forces in 2011 and 2010 as Gbagbo tried to cling to power. “This is the sole method to make certain justice for the countless casualties.”
