3000 died in riots in 2011 – President of Ivory Coast pardons his predecessor Gbagbo – News

  • The President of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, has pardoned his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for political unrest.
  • The bank balances of the 77-year-old ex-head of state are to be released and his pension paid again.
  • Ouattara said so in an address marking the 62nd anniversary of Ivorian independence.

“In the interests of social cohesion,” he pardoned Gbagbo by presidential decree, according to the incumbent head of state. Two other close associates of the ex-president, who were convicted for their role in the political unrest in 2011, are to be released.

In 2010, after ten years in power, Gbagbo did not recognize his defeat in the presidential election and refused to transfer official duties to the election winner and President Ouattara, who is still in office today. More than 3,000 people were killed in unrest following the election.

Return after acquittal in The Hague

Gbagbo was eventually ousted from office, arrested in northern Ivory Coast in April 2011 and later extradited to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He returned to his homeland in June after The Hague confirmed his acquittal.

An Ivorian court had sentenced the ex-head of state in absentia in 2018 to 20 years in prison for looting the central bank during the unrest. With the pardon, this prison sentence is now null and void.

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