African court requests Gbagbo be added to I Coast electoral roll

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has said Ivory Coast should allow former President Laurent Gbagbo, who has been barred from running in October’s presidential election, to participate in the high-stakes poll. The court, based in Arusha in Tanzania, on Friday asked Ivory Coast to “take all necessary steps to immediately remove all obstacles” preventing Gbagbo from being added to the electoral roll. Ivory Coast withdrew its recognition of the court’s jurisdiction in April this year. Gbagbo, who was president from 2000 to 2010, is not on the electoral roll which was updated this year, and thus cannot vote or be a candidate in the election. The 75-year-old was freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after he was cleared in January 2019 of crimes against humanity. He is living in Brussels pending the outcome of an appeal against the ICC ruling. His candidacy was rejected by Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council on the grounds that he was handed a 20-year prison term by an Ivorian court last November over the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States during the crisis that engulfed the country in 2010. Then, Gbagbo had refused to stand down after the electoral commission declared incumbent President Alassane Ouattara the winner of a delayed election. At least 3,000 people were killed in the fighting that ensued between forces loyal to the two men, with both sides accused of committing atrocities. The Arusha-based court also said Gbagbo’s conviction should not be included on his judicial record until it had time to deliver a full judgement. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">