IVORY COAST: First time charges of economic infraction, armed robbery, looting and embezzlement of public goods are brought against former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone
Record ID:
181762
IVORY COAST: First time charges of economic infraction, armed robbery, looting and embezzlement of public goods are brought against former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone
- Title: IVORY COAST: First time charges of economic infraction, armed robbery, looting and embezzlement of public goods are brought against former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone
- Date: 19th August 2011
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (AUGUST 18, 2011) (REUTERS) PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SIMPLICE KOUADIO KOFFI TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, SIMPLICE KOUADIO KOFFI, SAYING: "Since Tuesday 16 June (meaning August) 2011, Mrs Simone Gbagbo, the wife of former President Laurent Gbagbo, was charged and moved into preventive detention at Odienne." JOURNALISTS LISTENING TO KOFFI (SOUNDBITE) (French) PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, SIMPLICE KOUADIO KOFFI, SAYING: "Mr and Mrs Laurent Gbagbo are charged with: economic infraction, armed robbery, looting, embezzlement of public goods, and attack on the national economy." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING TO KOFFI
- Embargoed: 3rd September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cote d'Ivoire
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAEMENBCTX8MZWELK3HBLQIOWNP
- Story Text: Ivory Coast's ex-president Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone, detained in the north of the country since they were ousted from power in April, were charged for the first time this week with "economic crimes, armed robbery, looting and embezzlement", the public prosecutor said on Thursday (August 18).
Gbagbo had been charged on Thursday, public prosecutor Simplice Kouadio Koffi told a news conference, while Simone had been charged on Tuesday (August 16) and moved from house arrest to jail.
President Alassane Ouattara's government is closing the net around members of the former regime, who are suspected of using violence against civilians seen as pro-Ouattara during and after a disputed November election, and of looting the treasury to remain in power despite harsh Western sanctions.
"Last Tuesday, Mrs Gbagbo was charged and moved into preventative detention," Koffi said.
Ivorian authorities arrested 57 soldiers from Gbagbo's regime last Thursday, and charged them with crimes ranging from murder and kidnapping to attacking state security and buying illegal arms.
The former head of Gbagbo's party, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, and 11 others were charged with violating state security in the same week, for backing his refusal to concede the poll, which tipped the country back into civil war.
Gbagbo was almost universally condemned by Western powers and African leaders for rejecting U.N. certified results showing he had lost the election to Ouattara last November.
The European Union and United States imposed sanctions and West Africa's central bank cut him off from state funds.
Pro-Gbagbo gunmen responded by seizing the central bank's Abidjan branch, triggering a liquidity crisis that shut down the banking system for around three months.
"The charges are: economic infraction, armed robbery, looting and embezzlement of public goods," Koffi said.
Gbagbo's refusal to go and use of security forces against demonstrators eventually triggered an insurgency culminating in civil war, until the former president was finally ousted in April. Around 3,000 people were killed and a million displaced.
Ouattara has invited the International Criminal Court to try the most serious crimes committed during the crisis. Critics complain that not one of Ouattara's men has been detained, despite evidence that they too have committed abuses.
The U.N. mission accused Ouattara's forces last Thursday of carrying out 26 extra-judicial killings in the past month. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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