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| Simone Gbagbo waves at supporters as she arrives at Abidjan’s courthouse on May 9, 2016. @Issouf Sanogo/AFP Archives |
The International Criminal Court said on Thursday it had dropped its arrest warrant for Ivory Coast’s former first lady Simone Gbagbo.
Since 2012, she faced four counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape, other inhumane acts and persecution, that would have supposedly been committed during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011, following her husband Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to hand over power to then elected Alassane Ouattara.
Simone Gbagbo was not handed over to the ICC, but an Ivorian court sentenced her to 20 years in prison in 2015 after she was charged with undermining state security.
She was freed on August 8, 2018 following a presidential amnesty.
President Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo met on Tuesday for the first time in more than 10 years, after which Ouattara said that the turmoil was “behind us”.
However reconciliation was not on the cards for the Gbagbo couple — Laurent Gbagbo sought a divorce upon his return to Ivory Coast citing the 72-year-old Simone’s “consistent refusal over the years to agree to an amicable separation”.
