Lawyers of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo have demanded his unconditional release.
On Thursday Gbagbo’s lawyers argued before the International Criminal Court judges that their client must be set free without conditions.
Gbagbo and his deputy Charles Ble Goude were both cleared of crimes against humanity last year after standing trial for years over post-electoral violence that killed 3 000 people in Ivory Coast.
Following his acquittal, Belgium agreed to host the 73 year old former leader after his release in February last year.
But Belgium only accepted to host Gbagbo under strict conditions including him being available for court proceedings when prosecutors appeal his acquittal.
The prosecutors have appealed his acquittal already with Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office saying then that “The appeal will demonstrate that the trial chamber committed legal and procedural errors which led to the acquittals of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ble Goude on all counts.”
Bensouda said Judges had cleared the pair “without properly articulating and consistently applying a clearly defined standard of proof.”
But Dov Jacobs, a member of Gbagbo’s legal team told judges that “in principle there can be no restrictions on an acquitted person”.
He said an acquitted person “must be able to exercise all of their rights including their civil and political rights.”
“The only logical outcome is to abandon all conditions restricting freedom,” he added.
Gbagbo was arrested in 2011 after violence erupted in Ivory Coast shortly after the 2010 elections.
He had refused to concede defeat to current president, Alassane Ouattara.
Mr. Gbagbo and his wife Simone, were arrested after a brief civil war. He was handed over to the International Criminal Court.
Gbagbo became the first former head of state to be handed over to the ICC and has been on trial since 2016.
Source: Africafeeds.com
