Politics
Gbagbo to be transferred to the ICC
Laurent Gbagbo. PHOTO/Sia Kambou / AFP – Getty Images
Ivory Coast’s ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo was set Tuesday to be transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which is probing alleged crimes committed during post-election violence.
“The prosecutor has served an international arrest warrant on, Laurent Gbagbo,” one of his lawyers, Jean Gbougnon, told AFP. “This concerns his transfer to The Hague; I don’t know when, maybe today, at the latest tomorrow.”
Gbagbo, who would be the first former head of state to be surrendered to the ICC, was informed of the imminent transfer earlier Tuesday, less than two weeks before legislative elections.
Sources familiar with the case said here that the transfer was expected to be as soon as Tuesday night.
Last month, ICC judges gave prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo the green light to probe post-election war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by forces loyal to both Gbagbo and new Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
In Paris, another lawyer for Gbagbo called the ICC arrest warrant “illegal” and said it would only serve to excerbate tensions in the west African country right before the elections.
“This decision by the ICC is illegal and goes against the interests of the country and of national reconcilation,” said lawyer Lucie Bourthoumieux.
In Ivory Coast, Gbagbo has been appearing before an investigating magistrate in the northern town of Korhogo since Monday, Gbougnon said.
