Ivorian Popular Front The Ivorian Popular Front (french: Front populaire ivoirien; abbr. FPI) is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic political party in Ivory Coast. FPI was founded in exile in 1982 by history professor Laurent Gbagbo, Aboudrama ...

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire The National Assembly is lower house of the Parliament of Ivory Coast since November 2016. From 1960 to 2016, the National Assembly was Ivory Coast's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial p ...

Robert Guéï Robert Guéï (; 16 March 1941 – 19 September 2002) was the military ruler of the Ivory Coast from 24 December 1999 to 26 October 2000. Biography Guéï was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western Man Department, and was a member o ...

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)African Union (AU), and the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

. However, Gbagbo refused to step down, despite mounting international pressure. The

Independent Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

(IEC) announced that Ouattara had won the race with 54% of the vote, a tally that the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

concluded was credible; however, the Constitutional Council, a body dominated by pro-Gbagbo members, annulled the results in Ouattara's electoral strongholds in the north, claiming fraud, and declared Gbagbo the winner with 51% of the vote.
Freedom in the World 2013: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties
' ( Freedom House, 2013). In December 2010, both Gbagbo and Ouattara assumed the presidency, triggering a short period of civil conflict in which about 3,000 people were killed.Laurel Wamsley
International Criminal Court Drops War Crimes Charges Against Ex-Ivory Coast Leader
NPR (15 January 2019). Gbagbo was arrested in 2011 by pro-Ouattara forces, who were supported by French troops. Gbagbo was extradited to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

in November 2011, where he was charged with four counts of crimes against humanity in the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

in connection with the post-election violence.David Smith
Laurent Gbagbo appears before international criminal court
''The Guardian'' (5 December 2011). Gbagbo was the first former

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

to be taken into the court's custody. In January 2019, an ICC panel dismissed the charges against Gbagbo and one of his former ministers, Charles Blé Goudé, determining that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove that the pair committed crimes against humanity. Prosecutors appealed the decision, and Gbagbo was prohibited from returning to Côte d'Ivoire pending the appeal proceedings.ICC grants prosecution request to keep Ivorian ex-leader Gbagbo in custody
France24 (18 January 2019). The ICC ultimately upheld Gbagbo's acquittal, and in April 2021, Ouattara stated he and Blé Goudé were free to return to the country.

Early life and academic career

Laurent Gbagbo was born on 31 May 1945 to a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

family of the

Bété people The Bété are an Ivory Coast group with strong cultural and artistic links to the Dan, the We ( Gwere) and the Guro, among others. The Bete together with many other ethnolinguistic groups makeup the Kru ethnic group. There are 93 distinct gr ...

in Gagnoa in the then French West Africa. He became a history professor and an opponent of the regime of President

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

. He was imprisoned from 31 March 1971 to January 1973. In 1979, he obtained his doctorate at

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

. In 1980, he became Director of the Institute of History, Art, and African Archeology at the University of Abidjan. He participated in a 1982 teachers' strike as a member of the National Trade Union of Research and Higher Education. Gbagbo went into exile in France.

Political career

During the 1982 strike, Koudou Gbagbo formed what would become the

Ivorian Popular Front The Ivorian Popular Front (french: Front populaire ivoirien; abbr. FPI) is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic political party in Ivory Coast. FPI was founded in exile in 1982 by history professor Laurent Gbagbo, Aboudrama ...

(FPI). He returned to Côte d'Ivoire on 13 September 1988 and at the FPI's constitutive congress, held on 19–20 November 1988, he was elected as the party's Secretary-General. Gbagbo said in July 2008 that he had received crucial support from

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

, formerly the President of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

, while he was part of the underground opposition to Houphouët-Boigny. Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1990, Gbagbo challenged Houphouët-Boigny in the October 1990 presidential election. Gbagbo contended that Houphouët-Boigny, who was either 85 or 90 years old (depending on the source), was not likely to survive a seventh five-year term. This failed to resonate with voters, and Gbagbo officially received 18.3% of the vote against Houphouët-Boigny. In the November 1990 parliamentary election, Gbagbo won a seat in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

, along with eight other members of the FPI.Robert J. Mundt, "Côte d'Ivoire: Continuity and Change in a Semi-Democracy", ''Political Reform in Francophone Africa'' (1997), ed. Clark and Gardinier, pp. 191–192 Gbagbo was elected to a seat from Ouragahio District in Gagnoa Department and was President of the FPI Parliamentary Group from 1990 to 1995. In 1992 he was sentenced to two years in prison and charged with inciting violence, but was released later in the year. The FPI boycotted the 1995 presidential election. In 1996 Gbagbo was re-elected to his seat in the National Assembly from Ouragahio, following a delay in the holding of the election there, and in the same year he was elected as President of the FPI. At the FPI's 3rd Ordinary Congress on 9–11 July 1999, Gbagbo was chosen as the FPI's candidate for the October 2000 presidential election. That election took place after a December 1999 coup in which retired general

Robert Guéï Robert Guéï (; 16 March 1941 – 19 September 2002) was the military ruler of the Ivory Coast from 24 December 1999 to 26 October 2000. Biography Guéï was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western Man Department, and was a member o ...

took power. Guéï refused to allow his predecessor as president,

Henri Konan Bédié Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

, or former prime minister

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

of 57 bodies was found in

Yopougon Yopougon (), also known colloquially as Yop City, is a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the most populous of the 10 urban communes of Abidjan and covers most of the western territory of the city. Yopougon is the only commune of Abidjan that sp ...

, Abidjan, in November 2000, containing the corpses of RDR supporters killed by FPI-aligned militias. The RDR launched an electoral boycott of the December 2000 elections to the parliament. The following month, an attempted coup d'etat against Gbagbo occurred. The government then intensified a crackdown on northerners and those thought to be

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Bouaké Bouaké (or Bwake, N’ko: ߓߐ߰ߞߍ߫ ''Bɔ̀ɔkɛ́'') is the second-largest city in Ivory Coast, with a population of 740,000 (2021 census). It is the seat of three levels of subdivision— Vallée du Bandama District, Gbêkê Region, and Bo ...

, and

Korhogo Korhogo is a city in northern Ivory Coast. It is the seat of both Savanes District and Poro Region. It is also a commune and the seat of and a sub-prefecture of Korhogo Department. In the 2014 census, the city had a population of 243,048, maki ...

. They failed to take Abidjan, but were successful in the other two cities, as Gbagbo loyalists, with French military assistance, repulsed the attack. Rebels of the

Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire The Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (''Mouvement patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire'', MPCI) was the major rebel group in the Ivorian Civil War, which since 2005, has transformed itself into a leading political party. Background of the MPCI and th ...

took control of the northern part of the country. In March 2003, a new cross-party agreement was made for the formation of a new government led by a consensus figure, Seydou Diarra, and including nine ministers from the rebels, and one year later, UN peacekeeping forces arrived in the country.Ivory Coast profile – Timeline
BBC news (15 January 2019). In March 2004, however, an anti-Gbagbo rally took place in Abidjan; government soldiers responded by killing some 120 people.Tim J. Watts, "Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)" in ''Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia'' (ed. Alexander Mikaberidze: Vol. 1: ABC-CLIO, 2013), p. 329. A subsequent UN report concluded that Ivorian government was responsible for the massacre.

Post-Civil War

The peace agreement effectively collapsed in early November 2004 following elections that critics claimed were undemocratic and the rebels' subsequent refusal to disarm. During an airstrike in Bouaké on 6 November 2004, nine French soldiers were killed. While the Ivorian government has claimed the attack on the French soldiers was accidental, French governmental sources claimed it was deliberate and responded by destroying most Ivorian military aircraft. With the late October deadline approaching in 2006, it was regarded as very unlikely that the election would in fact be held by that point, and the opposition and the rebels rejected the possibility of another term extension for Gbagbo. The UN Security Council endorsed another one-year extension of Gbagbo's term on 1 November 2006; to not forget, many of the rebels held their guns and were prepared to advance again, however, the resolution provided for the strengthening of Prime Minister

Charles Konan Banny Charles Konan Banny (11 November 1942 – 10 September 2021)Biography at BCEAO website

's powers. Gbagbo said the next day that elements of the resolution deemed to be constitutional violations would not be applied. A peace deal between the government and the rebels, or New Forces, was signed on 4 March 2007, in

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

, Burkina Faso, and subsequently

Guillaume Soro Guillaume Kigbafori Soro (born 8 May 1972) is an Ivorian politician who was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from April 2007 to March 2012. Prior to his service as Prime Minister, Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire, and late ...

, leader of the New Forces, became Prime Minister."New Ivory Coast govt 'a boost for Gbagbo'"
AFP (''IOL''), 12 April 2007. Those events were seen by some observers as substantially strengthening Gbagbo's position. Gbagbo visited the north for the first time since the outbreak of the war for a disarmament ceremony, the "peace flame", on 30 July 2007. This ceremony involved burning weapons to symbolize the end of the conflict."Côte d'Ivoire: Gbagbo en zone rebelle pour prôner la paix et des élections rapides"
, AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), 30 July 2007 . At the ceremony, Gbagbo declared the war over and said that the country should move quickly to elections, which were then planned for early 2008. On 30 August 2008, Gbagbo was designated the FPI's candidate for the November 2008 presidential election at a party congress; he was the only candidate for the FPI nomination. The presidential election was again postponed to 2010.

2010 presidential election and post-election violence

In 2010, Côte d'Ivoire had a presidential election. Gbagbo, whose mandate had expired in 2005, had delayed the election several times.Adam Nossiter
After Delays, a Vote for a President in Ivory Coast
''New York Times'' (1 November 2010). In the first round, Gbagbo faced 14 challengers; the two main ones were

Henri Konan Bédié Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

, who had been deposed in a coup eleven years earlier, and

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)IMF official. In the first round, no candidate secured a majority of more than 50%, triggering a

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...

between the top two vote-getters: Gbagbo (who had received 38% of the vote in the first round) and Ouattara (who received 32% of the vote in the first round). On 28 November 2010, the second round of the presidential election was held. Four days later the Independent Election Commission (CEI) declared Ouattara the winner with 54.1% of the vote. Gbagbo's party complained of fraud and ordered that votes from nine regions occupied by the ex-rebels "became FN after the Ouagadougou agreement" be annulled, but the claims were disputed by the Ivorian Electoral Commission and international election observers. The Constitutional Council nullified the CEI's declaration based on alleged voting fraud, and excluded votes from nine northern areas. The Constitutional Council concluded that without these votes Gbagbo won with 51% of the remaining vote. The constitutional restriction on Presidents serving more than ten years was not addressed. With a significant portion of the country's vote nullified, especially in areas where Ouattara polled well, tensions mounted in the country. Gbagbo ordered the army to close the borders and foreign news organizations were banned from broadcasting from within the country.

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

urged the government to "act responsibly and peacefully." Gbagbo declared that "I will continue to work with all the countries of the world, but I will never give up our sovereignty." On 4 December 2010, one day after military leadership pledged their continuing loyalty to him, Gbagbo again took the oath of office in a ceremony broadcast on state television. Gbagbo's claim to continue in office was not accepted internationally, and rejected by the France, the U.S., the United Nations, the African Union, and the regional bloc

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

, all of which recognized Ouattara as the duly elected president and called for Gbagbo to respect the will of the people. Gbagbo responded by launching ethnic attacks on northerners living in Abidjan with his army made up partly of Liberian mercenaries, and rumours (unconfirmed because of restrictions on the movement of peacekeeping forces) of pro-Gbagbo death squads and mass graves have been reported to representatives of the UN. Gbagbo is mainly supported by the largely Christian south; his opponents are mostly concentrated in the Muslim north. When Nigeria demanded Gbagbo step down and the EU began imposing sanctions and freezing assets, Gbagbo demanded that UN peacekeepers and French troops leave the country. Leaders of the Forces Nouvelles (former rebels) asserted that Gbagbo was not the head of state and could not make such a request and also asserted that the demand was a part of a plan to commit genocide against northerners, as stated by Gbagbo's Minister of Youth and Employment. The ensuing post-election violence resulted in the death of 3,000 people, and the

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of between a half-million to a million other people.Ben Batros
The ICC Acquittal of Gbagbo: What Next for Crimes against Humanity?
''Just Security'' (18 January 2019). On 11 April 2011, forces loyal to Ouattara supported by the French and UN forces moved to seize Gbagbo at his residence in Abidjan after failed negotiations to end the presidential succession crisis. According to Ouattara, his forces established a security perimeter at the residence, where Gbagbo had sought refuge in a subterranean level, and were waiting for him to run out of food and water. The UN had insisted that he be arrested, judged and tried for crimes against humanity during his term and since the election of Ouattara.

Arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court

On 10 April 2011, UN and French helicopters fired rockets at the presidential residence. French special forces assisted forces loyal to Ouattara, the internationally recognized president, in their advance upon the compound. Gbagbo was captured in the bunker below the compound and placed under arrest by the Ouattara forces. Gbagbo's lawyer stated that the government forces were able to storm the residence after French troops blasted a wall, opening up a "getaway" tunnel that had been dug on the orders of Gbagbo's predecessor,

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

, and subsequently walled up by Gbagbo. Gbagbo was held in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan by Ouattara's forces, and requested protection from UN peacekeepers. Speaking from the hotel, Gbagbo told the regular armies to stop fighting. U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

welcomed news of the developments and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

quoted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying that Gbagbo's capture "sends a strong signal to dictators and tyrants. ... They may not disregard the voice of their own people". In October 2011, the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

opened an investigation into acts of violence committed during the conflict after the election, and ICC chief prosecutor

Luis Moreno Ocampo Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to mark Moreno as a surname, not a given name. (born 4 June 1952) is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Co ...

visited the country. The following month, the ICC formally issued an arrest warrant for Gbagbo, charging him with four counts of crimes against humanity – murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and other inhuman acts allegedly committed between 16 December 2010 and 12 April 2011. Gbagbo was arrested in

Korhogo Korhogo is a city in northern Ivory Coast. It is the seat of both Savanes District and Poro Region. It is also a commune and the seat of and a sub-prefecture of Korhogo Department. In the 2014 census, the city had a population of 243,048, maki ...

, where he had been placed under house arrest, and was placed on a flight to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

on 29 November 2011. An adviser to Gbagbo described the arrest as "victors' justice". Conversely, human rights groups hailed Gbagbo's arrest while also stating that pro-Ouattara forces that committed crimes should also be held accountable. In 2012, Gbagbo's former budget minister Justin Kone Katinan, a close Gbagbo ally, was arrested on an international warrant in Accra,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, on charges of robbery arising from looting of banks in Ivory Coast. The following year, a Ghanaian magistrate rejected the extradition request, determining that the warrant issued by the Ivorian government was politically motivated.

Proceedings in the ICC and acquittal

The confirmation of charges hearing was scheduled for 18 June 2012, but was postponed to 13 August 2012, to give his defense team more time to prepare. The hearing was then postponed indefinitely, citing concerns over Gbagbo's health. Gbagbo's trial at the ICC began on 28 January 2016, where he denied all charges against him; crimes against humanity including murder,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

and persecution, as did his co-accused Charles Blé Goudé. Due to presenting a flight risk and maintaining a network of supporters, judges ordered him to remain in detention during his trial. From January 2016 to January 2018, ICC prosecutors presented the testimony of 82 witnesses and thousands of pieces of evidence. Gbagbo filed a "

no case to answer No case for the defendant to answer (sometimes shortened to no case to answer) is a term in the criminal law of some Commonwealth states, whereby a defendant seeks acquittal without having to present a defence, because of the insufficiency of the ...

" motion in July 2018, and hearings were held in November 2018. On 15 January 2019 Gbagbo and Goudé were acquitted by an ICC panel and their release was ordered. Presiding Judge

Cuno Tarfusser Cuno Jakob Tarfusser (born 1954) is an Italian judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Education and early career Tarfusser studied at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Padova. Prior to his appointment to the ICC, he had ...

and Judge Geoffrey Henderson ruled in favor of release; Judge Olga Carbuccia issued a

dissenting opinion A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. Dissenting opinions are norm ...

. Many within the Ivory Coast celebrated Gbagbo's acquittal. Amnesty International called the acquittal of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé "a crushing disappointment to victims of post-election violence in Cote d’Ivoire" but noted that the Office of the Prosecutor was likely to appeal. The proceedings against Gbagbo were the first against a head of state undertaken by the ICC, and the failure of the ICC to convict Gbagbo for the mass atrocities was said by analysts to significantly impair the credibility of the ICC as a court of last resort.

Appeal

The ICC (International Criminal Court) panel ordered Gbagbo's immediate release, but the ICC Appeals Chamber ordered that Gbagbo remain in custody pending consideration of ICC prosecutors' appeal against Gbagbo's acquittal.ICC grants prosecution request to keep Ivorian ex-leader Gbagbo in custody
France24 (18 January 2019). In February 2020, the ICC Appeals Chamber granted Gbagbo conditional release from detention; he was allowed to live in Belgium, but had to be available to return to court, and could not leave Belgium.Mike Corder
Lawyers to ICC: Free Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo unconditionally
Associated Press (6 February 2020). Gbagbo's lawyers then petitioned the ICC for Gbagbo's unconditional release. On 28 May 2020, the International Criminal Court gave Gbagbo permission to leave

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

if certain conditions were met. At the time, it was unclear if he would be allowed to return to Côte d'Ivoire. On 30 October 2020, Gbagbo said the 2020 Ivorian presidential election spells "disaster" for the country, in his first public comments since being toppled in 2011. He gave the interview in Belgium, where he was awaiting the outcome of proceedings against him. In March 2021, the ICC upheld Gbagbo's acquittal. Shortly afterwards, Ouattara stated he was free to return to Côte d'Ivoire.

Return to Cote d'Ivoire

After his acquittal was confirmed, current Ivorian President

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, where he had been living for the previous three years after being released from detention. Ouattara arranged him a diplomatic passport, and promised him the benefits that are typically given to ex-presidents, including state-provided security and a state pension. Six of Gbagbo's former allies also returned after spending years in exile after being encouraged by the current president Ouattara. In October 2021, Gbagbo launched a new political party called the African People's Party – Cote d'Ivoire (PPA-CI). In December 2021, he spent four days in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. According to a statement from his party, he went there to attend the funeral of Captain

Kojo Tsikata Kojo Tsikata (1936 – 20 November 2021) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician, who served as the Head of National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). He was listed as a retired army captain ...

, a man close to the former president of Ghana

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the de ...

. Laurent Gbagbo also visited the Ivorian exiles, whose return he wanted to the country since the Ivorian crisis, 11,000 Ivorians fled the post-election crisis to seek asylum in neighboring Ghana.

Honours

*: **

Collar of the National Order of the Ivory Coast

Notes

References

External links

* *
The Prosecutor v. Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé
' page from the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Gbagbo, Laurent 1945 births Ivorian democracy activists Ivorian Popular Front politicians Ivorian prisoners and detainees Ivorian Roman Catholics Living people Members of the National Assembly (Ivory Coast) People detained by the International Criminal Court Presidents of Ivory Coast Prisoners and detainees of Ivory Coast 21st-century criminals 20th-century criminals People extradited from Ivory Coast People from Gagnoa Ivory Coast politicians convicted of crimes Heads of government who were later imprisoned

Early life and academic career

Political career

Post-Civil War

2010 presidential election and post-election violence

Arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court

Proceedings in the ICC and acquittal

Appeal

Return to Cote d'Ivoire

Honours

See also

Notes

References

External links