ICC: Ivory Coast must hand over Simone Gbagbo for trial News
ICC: Ivory Coast must hand over Simone Gbagbo for trial

[JURIST] Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Thursday said [press release] the Ivory Coast must hand over Simone Gbagbo, the wife of former President Laurent Gbagbo, to stand trial in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity. The ICC judges rejected the Ivory Coast’s challenge to the admissibility of the case, finding that domestic authorities were not taking reasonable steps towards finding whether Simone Gbagbo is criminally responsible for the alleged conduct. According to the warrant of arrest, Simone Gbagbo is allegedly responsible for “crimes against humanity of murder, rape, and other forms of sexual violence” committed in the territory between December 2010 and April 2011.

The ICC issued a warrant for Laurent Gbagbo’s arrest on charges of crimes against humanity [JURIST report], including murder, rape and persecution, in November 2011. In November 2010 Laurent Gbagbo ran for president of the Ivory Coast against former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara [BBC profile]. The EU recognized that Ouattara defeated Gbagbo, but Gbagbo refused to concede victory. Gbagbo has been accused [JURIST report] of starting a civil war after losing the presidency, which resulted in 3,000 deaths and 1 million people displaced.