Former Ivory Coast first lady Simone Gbagbo will go on trial
in Abidjan on April 25 accused of crimes against humanity, defence lawyer
Mathurin Dirabou has told AFP.
Nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, the 66-year-old had already been
sentenced to 20 years in jail last year for “attacking state authority” for her
role in violence that followed elections in 2010 which her husband Laurent
Gbagbo lost. Gbagbo is the subject of a warrant issued by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in the
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| Simone Gbagbo |
However, the government refused to transfer her and instead
she was judged by an Ivorian court, with her sentence handed down in March last
year. Her husband went on trial at the ICC in January along with his former
militia chief as the court investigates the post-election violence.
Despite ICC requests to hand her over to stand trial
alongside her husband, President Alassane Ouattara in February declined to send
“any more Ivorians” to the ICC, insisting his country’s judicial system was
capable of dispensing justice.
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