Charges against Simone Gbagbo, the former Ivoirian first lady, were confirmed yesterday by a court in Abidjan for her role in violence that followed the 2010 presidential election. Fraternite Matin (p. 8) said the decision paves the way for the trial of Simone Gbagbo and 80 other supporters of the ex-leader, including his son Michel Gbagbo and FPI officials Pascal Affi N'guessan and Ake Ngbo. They are accused among other counts of breaching state security, rebellion and defiance of state authority the paper added.
Le Patriote (p. 6) carried a similar account while Le Nouveau Reveil (p. 4) argued the decision underscores the government's reluctance to transfer the case of Simone Gbagbo to the International Criminal Court which has issued an arrest warrant against her.
According to L'Inter (p. 5) the decision was deemed baseless and illegal by the defense team. "We are upset that the law has been ignored," the paper reported Mr. Djirabou, the legal advisor of the accused as saying. "The court should have been fair enough to conclude that there is not enough evidence against them," he added, arguing that even judges from the ICC acknowledged they lack evidence to open a trial against former president Laurent Gbagbo. He denounced a double standard of justice in the handling of the case, the paper further added.
Papers close to the FPI, including Le Nouveau Courrier (p. 2) and Notre Voie (p. 2) echoed the charge of bias against pro-Gbagbo detainees.
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Well,the lawyer is spot on!While almost everyone is calling Obama's endless bombardment campaigns of Africans and persecution of Muslims,can we safely say Michelle and her girls are guilty?Not that Gbagbo did anything wrong.