IVORY COAST: International Criminal Court investigation into alleged war crimes during post-election conflict to focus on all parties says prosecutor

Record ID: 181568

  • Title: IVORY COAST: International Criminal Court investigation into alleged war crimes during post-election conflict to focus on all parties says prosecutor
  • Date: 29th June 2011
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (JUNE 28, 2011) (REUTERS) PRESIDENTIAL PALACE EXTERIOR VARIOUS IVORIAN PRESIDENT ALASSANE OUATTARA WELCOMING ICC DELEGATION (SOUNBIDTE) (English) ICC DEPUTY PROSECUTOR, FATOU BENSOUDA, SAYING: "One of the most important things we have discussed -- the president and the ICC delegation -- is that we are going to focus on crimes of all sides." VARIOUS OF OUATTARA SITTING TALKING TO ICC BENSOUDA (SOUNBIDTE) (English) ICC DEPUTY PROSECUTOR, FATOU BENSOUDA, SAYING: "And that anybody who is responsible for these most serious crime over which the ICC have the jurisdiction, is not going to be protected." MORE OF BENSOUDA SITTING TALKING WITH OUATTARA (SOUNDBITE) (French) JUSTICE MINISTER JEANNOT AHOUSSOU KOUADIO, SAYING: "Don't forget that there are the amnesty laws signed in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and we are going to investigate according to our jurisdiction, meaning from December 4 onwards, to date." MINISTER AND DELEGATION COMING DOWN THE STAIRS
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2G74IB67JE217YVFJBEWSRS0D
  • Story Text: An International Criminal Court investigation into alleged war crimes during Ivory Coast's post-election conflict will focus on all parties to it and protect nobody, the deputy prosecutor said on Tuesday (June 28).
    The ICC's deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was addressing journalists in the main city Abidjan, where she is opening an investigation into crimes committed during a violent power struggle between President Alassane Ouattara and former president Laurent Gbagbo over disputed a Nov. 28 election.
    She earlier signed an accord to launch the inquiry with Justice Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, who also pledged that no one who committed war crimes would escape justice. She then met with top Ivorian officials, including president Ouattara.
    "One of the most important things we have discussed -- the president and the ICC delegation -- is that we are going to focus on crimes of all sides," Bensouda said.
    "And that anybody who is responsible for these most serious crime over which the ICC have the jurisdiction, is not going to be protected," she added.
    Gbagbo's supporters complain that not a single member of Ouattara's camp has been arrested for alleged crimes, despite evidence of abuses by the former rebel troops.
    Bensouda earlier said the agreement between the ICC and the Ivorian government would "help to put an end to impunity."
    Ivorian Justice Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio said the investigation would be limited to crimes alleged to have occurred since December 2010, when the post-election standoff was ignited, not all the way back to the 2002 rebellion that split the country in two.
    "Don't forget that there are the amnesty laws signed in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and we are going to investigate according to our jurisdiction, meaning from December 4 onwards, to date," Kouadio said.
    But he said that if anyone wanted to open a separate inquiry on 2002, the Ivorian justice will be ready to respond to all points of view.
    Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara following the poll, triggering months of violence and economic havoc in the world's No. 1 cocoa-producing country before Gbagbo was captured in April in Abidjan with help from French forces.
    ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said last week at least 3,000 people were killed, 520 people were arbitrarily detained in the violence and there were more than 100 reported cases of rape, with unreported cases potentially much higher.
    Gbagbo is currently being detained in northern Ivory Coast awaiting trial by Ivorian courts -- for war crimes, but also for alleged corruption, embezzlement and other alleged economic crimes, as is his wife, Simone, and several close aides.
    Fifteen of those aides being detained in Abidjan, including former prime minister Gilbert Ake, finance minister Desire Dallo and foreign affairs minister Alcide Djedje, were charged with crimes including destabilising the state, theft of public goods and embezzlement, on Sunday.
    Bensouda said the ICC probe would not affect domestic judicial procedures like these but would merely complement them.
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