The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo of all charges of crimes against humanity over post-electoral violence in the West African nation, and ordered his immediate release.

Head judge Cuno Tarfusser said the court in The Hague “grants the defence motions for acquittal for all charges for Mr Laurent Gbagbo” and his right-hand man, Charles Ble Goude. </s> International Criminal Court judges on Tuesday acquitted former Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo of all war crimes charges and ordered his immediate release.

The ruling comes as a blow to prosecutors who have lost other major cases in recent years.

Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said prosecutors failed to prove their case against Gbagbo and co-defendant Charles Blé Goudé, a close ally and former youth leader in the West African country, who was ordered to be set free.

“The majority finds that the prosecution has failed to demonstrate there was a common plan to keep Mr Gbagbo in power that included the commission of crimes against civilians,” Tarfusser said.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of Gbagbo supporters, many who travelled to The Hague by bus from Paris, broke into cheers and dancing when the verdict was announced.

Gbagbo was the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC, and his acquittal was a major setback for the prosecution.

Other setbacks to hit the ICC are defeats in cases against Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Congolese ex-vice president released last year after his war crimes conviction was overturned, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had charges against him dropped in 2015.

Gbagbo, 73, and Goudé, had been on trial since 2016 for war crimes allegedly committed under Gbagbo’s leadership.

The former leader faced four counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts during post-electoral violence in Ivory Coast between December 2010 and April 2011, when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by rival and incumbent president, Alassane Ouattara. </s> ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire — An Ivory Coast judge says former first lady Simone Gbagbo has been found not guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Kouadio Bouatchi said Tuesday that Gbagbo was acquitted. The prosecution had asked for a life sentence, saying she participated in a committee that organized abuses against supporters of her husband's opponent after the 2010 election.

More than 3,000 people were killed after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to current President Alassane Ouattara.

Simone Gbagbo still must serve 20 years in prison after being found guilty in March 2015 of against the state.

Simone Gbagbo, in custody since April 2011, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but Ivory Coast has refused to transfer her. </s> THE HAGUE (Reuters) – International Criminal Court judges on Tuesday acquitted former Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo of all war crimes charges and ordered his immediate release in a blow to prosecutors who have lost other major cases in recent years.

Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said prosecutors failed to prove their case against Gbagbo and co-defendant Charles Blé Goudé, a close ally and former political youth leader, who were ordered to be set free.

“The majority finds that the prosecution has failed to demonstrate there was a common plan to keep Mr. Gbagbo in power that included the commission of crimes against civilians,” Tarfusser said.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of Gbagbo supporters, many who travelled to The Hague by bus from Paris, broke into cheers and dancing when the verdict was announced.

“Ooh-la-la, the judge completely dropped the charges,” said Gbagbo supporter Olivier Kipre in the Ivorian capital Abidjan.

“I’m so joyful. I will become crazy today because I didn’t believe he would be released.”

Gbagbo was the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC.

Acquittal was a major setback for the prosecution, stung by defeats in cases against Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Congolese ex-vice president released last year after his war crimes conviction was overturned, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had charges against him dropped in 2015.

Prosecutors have only won three war crimes convictions over the past 15 years.

Gbagbo, 73, and Goudé, had been on trial since 2016 for war crimes allegedly committed under Gbagbo’s leadership.

The former leader faced four counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts during post-electoral violence in Ivory Coast between December 2010 and April 2011, when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by rival Alassane Ouattara.

“There is no need for the defence to submit further evidence as the prosecutor has not satisfied the burden of proof,” added the judge Tarfusser.

Gbagbo heard the ruling dressed in a dark blue suit, and the judge had to order supporters in the public gallery to calm down as they erupted in cheers.

Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Writing by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne </s> Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | An Ivory Coast jury on Tuesday acquitted former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity during the 2010-11 post-election crisis in a stunning verdict after the prosecution had sought to jail her for life.

“A majority of the jury declared Simone Gbagbo not guilty of the crimes of which she has been accused, pronounced her acquittal and ordered that she be immediately freed if she is not being held for other reasons, ” said the head of the country’s top criminal court, judge Kouadjo Boiqui.

Once dubbed Ivory Coast’s “Iron Lady,” Gbagbo, who was not in court Tuesday, is already serving a 20-year sentence for “endangering state security.”

The prosecution in summing up its case against the 67-year-old wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday had called on the jury to find her “guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentence her to life imprisonment,” said prosecutor Aly Yeo.

He described her as a shadowy figure who orchestrated attacks on her husband’s opponents.

“After her spouse came to power, she started to impose herself as the real head of Ivory Coast, the army, the police and gendarmerie,” Yeo said.

Laurent Gbagbo is on trial for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution, having been handed over in November 2011 to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC also wanted to prosecute his wife and issued a warrant for her arrest, but Ivorian authorities refused to hand her over, insisting she would receive a fair trial at home.

The judge also said that the parties had 60 days to appeal the verdict which the jury reached after deliberating for six hours.

Following the 2010 presidential elections, some 3,000 people died in five months of unrest in the cocoa-rich west African state after Laurent Gbagbo, who lost to current Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, refused to step down.

The prosecution charged that Simone Gbagbo had headed a crisis cell — “a genuine decision-making body” that allegedly coordinated attacks by armed forces and pro-Gbagbo militias.

The evidence came from documents found in the home of the presidential couple when the pair were arrested on September 11, 2011, he said.

“She replied to correspondence from arms dealers offering weapons and combat helicopters,” said Yeo.

She was accused of distributing arms to militias backing her husband following his election defeat.

In one case, she allegedly played an indirect role in the shelling of a market in Abobo, a Ouattara stronghold in the economic capital Abidjan, in November 2010. </s> Judges at the International Criminal Court have acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo of crimes committed following disputed elections in 2010.

The court in The Hague also acquitted the country’s former youth minister Charles Ble Goude, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case.

Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser ordered the immediate release of the 73-year-old Gbagbo and Ble Goude, following the judgment mid-way through their trial.

Mr Tarfusser said a majority of the three-judge chamber ruled that “the prosecutor has failed to satisfy the burden of proof” against both men.

Lawyers for Gbagbo and Ble Goude asked judges last year to acquit both men for lack of evidence at the end of the prosecution case in their trial that began just under three years ago.

Mr Tarfusser later suspended his order ahead of a follow-up hearing on Wednesday, when prosecutors are expected to announce whether they will appeal.

Gbagbo was the first former president to go on trial at the global court and his case was seen as a milestone in efforts to bring to justice even the highest-ranking leaders accused of atrocities.

Mr Tarfusser said it was a matter of public record that Ivory Coast was wracked by post-election violence in 2010 and early 2011, but he said prosecutors did not present evidence that Gbagbo and Ble Goude formulated a common plan for their supporters to unleash violence.

More than 3,000 people were killed after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by his rival and current Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.

As Mr Tarfusser announced the acquittals, supporters of Gbagbo and Ble Goude stood up and cheered in the courtroom’s gallery. Supporters of Gbagbo outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)

The ruling was the latest defeat for prosecutors at the world’s first global war crimes court.

The case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was also accused of involvement — before he became president — in post-election violence in his country, collapsed in December 2014.

Last year a former Congolese vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, was acquitted on appeal of crimes allegedly committed by his militia in neighbouring Central African Republic. </s> Simone Gbagbo had been charged with orchestrating attacks on supporters of her husband's opponent after 2010 election.

An Ivory Coast court has found former first lady Simone Gbagbo not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity after a trial on her alleged role in postelection abuses that led to the deaths of thousands.

Judge Kouadio Bouatchi with the country's highest criminal court said a jury unanimously voted on Tuesday to free Gbagbo.

The prosecution had asked for a life sentence, saying she participated on a committee that organised attacks against supporters of her husband's opponent after the 2010 election.

Once dubbed Ivory Coast's "Iron Lady," Gbagbo, who was not in court on Tuesday, must still serve 20 years in prison after being found guilty in 2015 of offenses against the state.

The prosecution had called on the jury to find the 67-year-old wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo "guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentence her to life imprisonment," said prosecutor Aly Yeo.

"After her spouse came to power, she started to impose herself as the real head of Ivory Coast, the army, the police and gendarmerie," Yeo said.

Laurent Gbagbo is on trial for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution, having been handed over in November 2011 to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC also wanted to prosecute his wife and issued a warrant for her arrest, but Ivorian authorities refused to hand her over, insisting she would receive a fair trial at home.

Ivory Coast descended into civil war in 2011 after Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat to Alassane Ouattara in a presidential runoff election. About 3,000 people were killed in the conflict.

"We regret this decision when we think of the many victims," Soungaola Coulibaly, lawyer for the victims, told Reuters.

"If Simone Gbagbo is declared not guilty of these acts then who was? ... The victims do not understand this decision."

Human Rights Watch said the judgement left "unanswered serious questions about her alleged role in brutal crimes".

"The acquittal ... reflects the many irregularities in the process against her," Param-Preet Singh, associate director in Human Rights Watch's International Justice programme, said.

"The poor quality of the investigation and weak evidence presented in her trial underscore the importance of the ICC's outstanding case against her for similar crimes." </s> A court in Ivory Coast has acquitted former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges linked to her role in a 2011 civil war that killed about 3,000 people, state television announced on Tuesday. 



Judge Kouadio Bouatchi said a jury unanimously voted to free Gbagbo. The prosecution had asked for a life sentence, saying she participated on a committee that organised abuses against supporters of her husband’s opponent after the 2010 election. 



More than 3,000 people were killed after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to current President Alassane Ouattara.

The trial, the west African country’s first for crimes against humanity, was held in an Ivorian court after the government rejected her extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. 



“We are happy. Since the start of the trial we proclaimed her innocence. The prosecution’s case against her was empty,” Gbagbo’s lawyer, Mathurin Dirabou, told Reuters after the verdict was announced. 



Tuesday’s acquittal was a surprise for many. Simone Gbagbo did not attend the trial in protest and was not present for the verdict.

“I’m disappointed and sad for the victims today. Only international justice can fight against impunity, it seems. We can no longer trust Ivorian justice,” said Issiaka Diaby, president of the association for victims of the crisis.

Simone Gbagbo had already been tried and convicted in March 2015 of offences against the state and sentenced to 20 years in prison, a jail term that was upheld on appeal this month. 



Prosecutors in her war crimes trial alleged she was part of a small group of party officials from Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) which planned violence against supporters of Ouattara to stop him taking power. 



Her husband, ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, is standing trial before the ICC on similar charges connected to the brief conflict. </s> The Hague (Reuters) - Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday asked judges to bar former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo from returning to his homeland, a day after he was acquitted on charges of crimes against humanity.

In Tuesday’s shock ruling, judges found that prosecutors had failed to prove any case against Gbagbo and they could no longer justify his detention, more than seven years after he was arrested and extradited to the court.

Gbagbo’s acquittal was deplored by victims’ groups for those who died in violence following Ivory Coast’s 2010 elections that Gbagbo was accused of orchestrating. But it was welcomed by his supporters and opened the possibility that he could return to politics in Ivory Coast.

As the court reconvened on Wednesday to discuss the terms of Gbagbo’s release, prosecutors said that they intended to appeal his acquittal, once the judges publish their formal decision and full reasoning.

They asked that Gbagbo therefore not be allowed to return to Ivory Coast due to concern he might not again submit to the court’s jurisdiction for appeals proceedings.

Lawyers for the Ivory Coast politician said the prosecution request showed they hadn’t yet come to terms with the scale of their legal defeat.

“Laurent Gbagbo is no longer an accused person. Laurent Gbagbo has been acquitted. He is no longer presumed to be innocent - he has been acknowledged as being innocent,” Gbagbo’s lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the court.

“He was acquitted of all accusations by the prosecutors. In these circumstances it is also meaningless to consider that Laurent Gbagbo would be a flight risk, or would abscond justice - justice has acquitted him.”
Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Ivory Coast, is acquitted of crimes against humanity charges by the International Criminal Court.