The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague said Monday that the court would appeal the January acquittal of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and his deputy, Charles Blé Goudé.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court appealed on Monday against the shock acquittal in January of former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo and his deputy, Charles Blé Goudé.
"The appeal will demonstrate that the trial chamber committed legal and procedural errors which led to the acquittals of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Blé Goudé on all counts," prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's office said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in February ordered Gbagbo's conditional release in Belgium after he was cleared a month earlier of charges of crimes against humanity. Judges agreed to release the ex-strongman and Goudé pending an appeal.
The two men stood accused over the deaths of 3,000 people killed in the months of clashes that erupted in the West African nation when Gabgbo refused to accept defeat after losing an election to rival Alassane Ouattara in 2010.
Gbagbo had been in detention since 2011 before his trial at the ICC started in 2016.
In the majority decision to acquit, the ICC said that prosecutors had “failed to satisfy the burden of proof to the requisite standard”.
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(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
