ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast’s former first lady Simone Gbagbo went on trial yesterday for “attempting to undermine the security of the state” in events leading to a bloody 2010-2011 crisis that left thousands dead.
Gbagbo, who has been held for three years and is also wanted by an international court for crimes against humanity, entered the Abidjan court where she is standing trial with 82 others, to cheers and applause from the public.
The 65-year-old wife of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo took a front seat before the judge next to her husband’s last prime minister and party chief Pascal Affi N’Guessan.
All 77 men and six women were charged “with undermining national defence, setting up armed groups, taking part in an insurrection movement, disturbing the public order” as well as “tribalism” and “xenophobia”, said state prosecutor Simeon Yabo Odi.
He pledged the trial would be “fair and transparent.” A six-member jury, including three women, was sworn in and the hearing suspended until Monday.
The trial is viewed as the biggest judicial challenge faced by the post-crisis government of the west African nation.
Nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, Gbagbo is being tried for her role in events leading to months of post-election violence that left some 3,000 people dead and badly rattled the economy of the prosperous cocoa-producing nation.
AFP
