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The president of the African country announced that he will revoke the 20-year prison sentence that fell on Laurent Gbagbo, predecessor in office and opponent in the 2010 elections, in order to “strengthen social cohesion” and mitigate socio-political discontent. He did it in the framework of the 62nd anniversary of national independence.
This Sunday, August 7, the head of state of Côte d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, announced the signing of a decree where he pardoned Laurent Gbagbo, long-time predecessor and political rival, who had to serve a 20-year prison sentence after the post-election crisis that took place between November 2010 and April 2011.
This measure has the objective of reducing tensions in the sociopolitical framework in a country with severe ideological differences between the followers of both referents.
“To strengthen social cohesion, I signed a decree granting Mr. Laurent Gbagbo a presidential pardon,” Ouattara said through his Twitter account. “I have also requested that his accounts be unblocked and his back annuities paid,” he added.
This decision comes on the same day that the Ivory Coast celebrates its 62nd anniversary of independence from France.
The ‘reconciliation’ process has been brewing for months. Last July, the current president met in Abidjan -the Ivorian capital- with former presidents Gbagbo (2000-11) and Henri Konan Bedie (1993-99, overthrown in a coup d’état) to think about possibilities to “relax the sociopolitical climate ”.
Dans le souci de renforcer la cohésion sociale, j’ai signed a decree according to the grace of the president to M. Laurent Gbagbo. J’ai également I sued qu’il soit procédé au degel de ses comptes del el et au paiement de ses arriérés de rentes voyageres. #IndependanceCIV pic.twitter.com/kUzRKw06RG
— Alassane Ouattara (@AOuattara_PRCI) August 7, 2022
In July 2021, it was the first contact between Ouattara and Gbagbo. This was considered transcendental, was cataloged as “historic” and acted as a necessary kick to calm the waters that had been agitated after the conflictive post-election process of 2011.
Back then, after the local Electoral Commission declared Ouattara the winner in the second round of the November 2010 elections, Gbagbo refused to recognize the result.
After months of civil violence, where at least 3,000 people died, he was arrested in April of the following year and referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial.
Although he was acquitted by the ICC in January 2019 and ratified in 2021, he was sentenced in Ivory Coast ‘in absentia’ to 20 years in prison in 2018.
Gbagbo was targeted in his country for forcing the branch of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) to acquire liquidity in January 2011, during the post-election crisis.
Since his release by the court in The Hague, becoming the first ICC trial against a head of state, he has been based in Belgium.
with EFE
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