ABIDJAN, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has announced that he has pardoned his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo.
President from 2000 to 2011, Laurent Gbagbo returned to the Ivory Coast in June after being acquitted in 2019 by the Netherlands-based court of war crimes for his role in a civil conflict sparked by his refusal to admit his electoral defeat.
However, he risked a 20-year prison sentence, pronounced in Ivory Coast in November 2019, for having embezzled funds from the regional central bank during the war.
“In order to strengthen social cohesion, I signed a decree granting presidential pardon to Laurent Gbagbo”, announced Alassane Ouattara during a televised speech.
He specified that he had asked for his accounts to be unfrozen and for the payment of his arrears of life annuities. (Report Ange Aboa; French version Camille Raynaud)