According to the committee set up to prepare for Laurent Gbagbo’s return to Côte d’Ivoire, the former Ivorian president is announced in Abidjan on June 17, 2021.
Ten years after his arrest and transfer to the jails of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is announced in Abidjan on June 17th. The information was given by Dr Assoa Adou, Secretary General of the branch of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) who remained faithful to the former head of state, this Monday, May 31, on the occasion of a ceremony organized by the supporters of Laurent Gbagbo to celebrate his birthday.
This announcement comes the day after the controversy that erupted between supporters of the ex-president and the ruling party (RHDP) over the format of Laurent Gbagbo’s return to Côte d’Ivoire.
Indeed, while the committee set up is active at the rate of mobilization tours to reserve a national and triumphant welcome to the former president, Adama Bictogo, executive director of the RHDP, during a press conference on May 27, 2021, estimated that Laurent Gbagbo should rather return discreetly. “There is a tense context. I think that the sense of responsibility also dictates, at times, that we do not play ostentatiously, that we remain calm, responsible until the end, “explained the boss of the RHDP. An exit which follows an article by Africa Intelligence revealing that Laurent Gbagbo would return at the end of June “on the sly”. The information was immediately denied by Koné Katinan, the spokesman for the former head of state.
Arrested on April 11, 2011, the former President of the Republic was transferred on November 29, 2011 to Scheveningen prison in The Hague. Accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, he was finally acquitted on March 30, 2021 of all these charges after a ten-year-long legal process.
