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Former Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo Files for Divorce

Former president Laurent Gbagbo has filed for divorce from his estranged wife Simone Gbagbo. A brief statement issued by the former president's long-time lawyer, Claude Mentenon, said Gbagbo took the decision to go to court as a last resort, after Simone's "repeated refusal" to consent to his request for a mutually agreed separation agreement.

Gbagbo's application comes three days after he returned to Cote d' Ivoire, following his acquittal and after nearly a decade since he was transferred to The Hague, Netherlands where he went on trial for war crimes in relation to the 2010 post-election violence that led to the deaths of over 3,000 people. The couple, who were married in 1989, have two daughters. They have been in political activism together, and jointly formed the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) which, after years of opposition to Cote d'Ivoire's Independence leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny, won the election in 2000.

InFocus

Julien Adayé/Deutsche Welle, © CPI

Simone and Laurent Gbagbo

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