ICC sets condtions before ex- Ivory Coast President Gbagbo is released

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has set terms that must be fulfilled before the release of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo.

Last month, judges at the ICC acquitted former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude of crimes committed following disputed elections in 2010, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case.

However, this week, the court said the former Ivory Coast president will be will be freed on the condition that he is accepted by a country willing to co-operate in enforcing any future decisions made by the ICC.

“This court shall release him to a state willing to accept them on its territory and willing to enforce the conditions set,” said Appeals judge Chile Eboe- Osuji.

The conditions according the court may also include returning him to The Hague in the event of a retrial after prosecutors said they will lodge an appeal that could see him return to court.

In a stunning blow to prosecutors last month, Presiding Judge of the ICC Cuno Tarfusser ordered the immediate release of 73-year-old Gbagbo and Ble Goude following the judgment midway through their trial.

Gbagbo was the first former president to go on trial at the global court and his case was seen as a milestone in efforts to bring to justice even the highest-ranking leaders accused of atrocities.

Tarfusser said a majority of the three-judge chamber ruled that “the prosecutor has failed to satisfy the burden of proof” against both men.

He said it was a matter of public record that Ivory Coast was wracked by post-election violence in 2010 and early 2011, but he said prosecutors did not present evidence that Gbagbo and Ble Goude formulated a common plan for their supporters to unleash violence.

More than 3,000 people were killed after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by his rival and current Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.

As Tarfusser announced the acquittals, supporters of Gbagbo and Ble Goude stood up and cheered in the courtroom’s gallery.

Lawyers for Gbagbo and Ble Goude had last year asked judges to acquit both men for lack of evidence at the end of the prosecution case in their trial that began just under three years ago.