ICC Starts Trial against Ousted Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo

January 28th, 2016

Awake Goy

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : The International Criminal Court launched the trail against Laurent Gbagbo. The Ivorian President was ousted in a French-backed coup in 2010 and has been in pre-trial detention at the ICC since. The detention and trial have drawn international criticism and to calls for African Union member States to withdraw their commitment to the Rome Statute and ICC membership.

Laurent Gbagbo – An African leader with Visions of Independence

The International Criminal Court (ICC) states that Laurent Gbagbo is accused of having engaged his individual criminal responsibility for four counts of crimes against humanity, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), jointly with members of his inner circle and through members of the pro-Gbagbo forces. Charges include that of murder, rape, other inhumane acts or, in the alternative, attempted murder, as well as persecution.

The ICC states that these crimes were allegedly committed between 16 and 19 December 2010 during and after a pro-Ouattara march on the RTI headquarters, on 3 March 2011 at a women’s demonstration in Abobo, on 17 March 2011 by shelling a densely populated area in Abobo, and on or around 12 April 2011 in Yopougon.

Gbagbo and Absolute French Control over West African Economies.

After his election, one of President Laurent Gbagbo’s first official orders was to “close the tunnel between the Presidential Palace and the French Embassy” with a concrete wall.

Gbagbo actively lobbied Ivorians and governments of other former French West African colonies to abolish the UMEOA (UEMOA). The organization was established by France when its former colonies gained independence. Part of the provisions of membership in the Economic and Monetary Union is that France has commissioners with veto right placed in the regions three central banks. France is printing the region’s currency, the CFA Frank and regulates its value. 65% of the 14 African member States foreign currency reserves as well as all gold reserves “have to be deposited” at the “Tresor National” in France.

It was after Gbagbo began lobbying for a departure from what is widely described as French Finance Nazism and after Gbagbo held talks with the late Libyan head of State to create a gold-backed Pan-African currency that “rebels” backed by French intelligence services, as well as special forces from France and Chad emerged in northern Ivory Coast. The coup in 2010 came after allegations that Gbagbo had committed election fraud against his rival Outtara. The Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court declared Gbagbo as the winner. After the 2010 coup, the sealed ballot boxes were flown to the UN headquarters in New York. The UN has, despite numerous calls, refused to recount the ballots.

Gbagbo Case Puts the ICC on Trial

The renown international lawyer Christopher Black repeatedly criticized the fact that it took the ICC years to actually come to a trial against Gbagbo and the years of pre-trial detention. Black also strongly criticized the ICC for selective prosecution of Gbagbo and stressed that selective prosecution was sufficient to throw out the trial.

Professor Alexander Mezyaev, Head of the Chair of the Academy of International Law and Governance, Kazan, Tatarstan, repeatedly criticized the ICC for its selective prosecution of Africans and / or those who oppose NATO member States. Late November 2015 the former South African President Tabo Mbeki described the International Criminal Court as an “impediment to conflict resolution” in Africa. Mbeki also stressed that the presence of Gbagbo in Ivory Coast was urgently needed to prevent a recurrence of political violence and civil war in the country.

CH/L – nsnbc 28.01.2016