Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo acquitted by International Criminal Court

FORMER Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo has been acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over post-electoral violence in the country eight years ago in a stunning blow to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

President Gbagbo, 73 and his right hand man Charles Ble Goude, 47, faced four charges of crimes against humanity over the 2010/11 bloodshed in which around 3,000 people were killed. However, after a lengthy trial, the ICC acquitted them, with judges ordering the immediate release of the duo.

After the judgement, the pair hugged each, while supporters started cheering wildly and clapped in the public gallery, prompting head judge Cuno Tarfusser to order them to sit down and behave. He added that the court grants the defence motions for acquittal for all charges for Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ble Goude and orders the immediate release of both accused.

Judge Tarfusser said: “The chamber by majority hereby decides that the prosecution has failed to satisfy the burden of proof to the requisite standard."

Prosecutors has argued that Messrs Gbagbo and Ble Goude clung to power by all means after he was narrowly defeated by his bitter rival and now president Alassane Outtara in general elections. However, the judges said there was no evidence of a common plan to foment violence.

Their release was suspended until tomorrow to give the prosecution time to respond to the shock judgment. This highly divisive case has tested the court’s avowed aim of delivering justice to the victims of the world’s worst crimes since it was founded in 2002.