Ivory Coast president pardons his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo

Aug. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, announced this Saturday in a message to the nation that he has signed a decree granting presidential pardon to his predecessor in office, Laurent Gbagbo.

“To strengthen social cohesion, I signed a decree granting presidential pardon to Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, former President of the Republic,” Ouattara said.

The Ivorian president explained that the country’s progress has been possible “thanks to the climate and peace that we have been able to preserve, together, in recent years”.

Likewise, Ouattara has stated that he has requested “that (Gbagbo’s) accounts be unfrozen and his back annuities paid”.

These measures had been taken during the detention of the former president in The Hague, when the International Criminal Court (ICC) was investigating him for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the civil war that broke out in 2010 after he refused to recognize their defeat at the polls against the current president.

However, in 2021 Gbagbo returned to the country in June after his acquittal by the ICC. Since then there have been meetings with political rivals to forge ties and achieve a national dialogue in the country.

Thus, last month Ouattara held a “reunion” with Gbagbo and former president Henri Konan Bédié to “relax the political climate.”