E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Peter De Jong / Pool via EPA
Laurent Gbagbo, center, is accused of crimes against humanity in the aftermath of Ivory Coast's disputed presidential elections in November 2010.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Ivory Coast's ex-president appeared at the International Criminal Court Monday, becoming the first former head of state to face judges at the world's first permanent war crimes court. Laurent Gbagbo vowed to fight the charges against him.
Gbagbo, 66, was calm and smiled at supporters in the public gallery as the 25-minute hearing opened. He told judges he did not need them to read the charges.
Gbagbo was extradited to the Netherlands last week to face charges including murder and rape committed by supporters as he attempted to cling to power.
Prosecutors say about 3,000 people died in violence by both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede electoral defeat.
A four-month war that displaced more than a million people erupted when when he refused to accept the results of the November 2010 election.
President Alassane Ouattara took power in April with the help of French and U.N. forces.
The former president, speaking in French, said he wanted to see the evidence against him.
Former Ivory coast President Laurent Gbagbo is now in the custody of his challenger Alassane Ouattra - and he's asked the United Nations for protection. Mr Gbagbo had barricaded himself inside a bunker at his presidential palace in Abidjan for days, resisting all efforts to negotiate his surrender. John Sparks, Channel 4 Europe reports
"I will challenge that evidence and then you hand down your judgment," he told the three-judge panel.
Gbagbo also complained about his arrest by opposition forces backed by French troops in April, saying he saw his son beaten and his interior minister killed in the fighting.
"I was the president of the republic and the residence of the president of the republic was shelled," he said.
'Deceived'
He also complained about his transfer to The Hague last week from the north of Ivory Coast where he was under house arrest.
"We were deceived," he said. "Things could have been done in a more regular manner."
Monday's brief hearing was scheduled to confirm Gbagbo's identity and ensure he understood his rights and the charges.
Presiding judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi of Argentina scheduled a hearing for June 18 next year at which prosecutors will have to present a summary of their evidence and judges will decide whether it is strong enough to merit committing Gbagbo for trial.
Hundreds of people were kidnapped and killed in a crackdown by Gbagbo's forces following last year's contested election, sparking a war that only ended when Ouattara's French-backed rebel forces captured Gbagbo in April.
But Ouattara's forces were also behind some of the atrocities, including rapes and executions, as they swept toward the coast from their northern stronghold.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
When are George W. and Dick C scheduled to appear?
Wondered the same thing myself. Let's see.... torture, kidnapping, illegal detention, waging aggressive war, the list goes on and on. After Nuremburg, some people were hanged for things like that.
I suppose you are forgetting that, as a fake world court goes, Obama can take his place in line for state sanctioned murder in a couple of regions in the world.
cliff-3720708 "When are George W. and Dick C scheduled to appear?"
Along with Obama for continuing the same policies?
"But Ouattara's forces were also behind some of the atrocities, including rapes and executions, as they swept toward the coast from their northern stronghold."
So when does HE get charged?
Oh, that's right - only the losers get charged with a crime. Sort of like "The winners always get to write the history books".
Right on pal, I have been asking that question for some time now. I have even e-mailed Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full investigation into Bush and Cheney's torture issue many times and you can imagine how that went. It is pretty embarrassing having an ex-president that is a prisoner in his own nation because if he goes out of the country he would be arrested for his war crimes. Those two rats are lucky I don't have a say in their prosecution or they would be in the Hague tomorrow!!
Cliff,
"When are George W. and Dick C scheduled to appear?"
Maybe Bush and Cheney deserve to appear before the World Court, but I don't think that will ever happen. The U.S. is to big and powerful and would not tolerate it because too many Americans would view it as an insult to our national sovereignty. I think we support institutions like the U.N. and World Court more to control other nations rather than to be controlled by those institutions.
When are George Whacko Bush and Dick Dick Brain Cheney scheduled to Appear?Throw Obama in there with them.
SOON I HOPE!
Hey Mickey, never say never!
gloria fabiaschi,
"Hey Mickey, never say never!"
I didn't say "never". I said "ever". :)
Mickey...you realize that a "World Court" is really a joke....particularly for those in democratic nations...we don't elect them they have no authority.
txmom32,
"you realize that a "World Court" is really a joke....particularly for those in democratic nations...we don't elect them they have no authority."
Yes, I think that's pretty much the case, especially when it comes to the United States. Whatever authority they may have is over others; not us.
Yeah, real honestly there are more than a few Americans that ought to be facing similar charges. Obama, Baby Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld all come to mind. The fact they aren't on there sort of makes the permanent war crimes court a bit of a politicized joke.
Just another ahole who thinks the rules of humanity don't apply to him.
Re: Them killers and terrorists 'out there.'
Like my grandmother used to say: "The skunk doesn't smell under its own tail.'
Years gone bye Ivory Coast was where you wanted to go on vacation. These countries have all gone to power, money, and no regard for human life. This guy is nothing but a scum bag like many of the others in that part of the world...
There's no reason why despots and war criminals shouldn't be prosecuted but why are the United Snakes (US/israel - Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Sarkozy, Cameron, Blair, et. al.) be exempted and allowed to gavalant throughout their counties and abroad selling their memoirs (full of 1/2 lies and half-truths) and giving expensive speeches or travelng to counrties that flaunt the Uinversal Jurisdiction protocols with impunity for both sides much as we see in the US, Britian, the Netherlands and France doing with the war criminals from that 1/2 acre of Zionist hell. America has murdered more than 6.9m innocents in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Central America, Somalia, Yemen and AF/PAK and you see it out playing the 'hypocrites' game of pointing fingers and selecting places like Iran and Syria as the centers of terrorism as they play the hypocrites game.
Insurance man, why don't you move to one of those arm pit countries that you mentioned.
Gee, Bush and Dick C. did water boarding. I do believe Obama had Osama killed without even a trial and was also indirectly responsible for the murder of Gaddafi with out a trial. Not saying any of those were bad, Just Saying.
The war in Iraq remember was OKed by a Democratic controlled congress. Libya was not authorized by the congress, just Obama. Also remember, when Bush was president both houses were controlled by Democrats. In fact, Democrats have had control of both houses in this country for almost 40 years. Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it? http://www.dflorig.com/partycontrol.htm Look it up.
PUSH FOR TERM LIMITS, IT IS OUR ONLY HOPE FOR SURVIVAL.
When Bush was president, the Republicans had control of Congress. Some Democrats voted to give Bush an authorization to go to war if certain conditions were not met by Iraq. Iraq met the conditions, but Bush went to war anyway.
Those Democrats who believed Saddam had WMD, did not get their information in a vacumn. They got it from Israel, the neocons, the news and the Jewish lobbies.
Uhhhh...first 2 yrs of the Bush admin, Repub House/Dem Senate....next 2 yrs, Repub/House; Repub/Senate...next 2 yrs, Dem House/Dem Senate....need to do your research and present facts prior to posting; otherwise, you're nothing more than a liberal robot repeating liberal talking points that are full of half truths! But the other stuff you mentioned are good points; Bush had Congressional and UN approval for Iraq and Afghanistan; Obama had neither Congressional or UN (just NATO and that's almost as worthless as the UN)! And, ironically, Obama, who surged Afghanistan, who in effect invaded Pakistan to kill OBL (which is good that he's dead), who assisted the bombing and subsequent fall and death of Gaddafi, who promised to shut GTMO but didn't, etc., received the Nobel PEACE Prize!!!!! That's like giving Pelosi a prize for "transparency in govt" - you know, we "have to pass the bill to see what's in the bill!!!!!"
Next on trial... every damned politician in DC for the last 20 years...
"In the dock?" Or, on the docket?
In the Netherlands He's "In the dock."
Ah. Thanks, Bob. Makes it sound like he's having barnacles scraped off his hull. . . Which, I guess given the Dutch maritime tradition would stand to reason.
jjjj
Until they arrest and try a Western criminal like, say, Henry Kissinger, this court will continue to be an imperialist farce.
Lets not forget Donald Rumsfeld. Might want to Bring Hank Paulson while we're at it. He's committed the equivelant of an economic final solution with this whole toxic debt EU debt Crisis.
Glad they got the bum.Hell yes I believe the acusations that have been leveled against him.It's what these people do,it's how they act and it's how the treat others.Their lower than animals,because even animals no when to stop and not to push things to far.These people much like those in the mideast do not.Their all living in a past thats thousands of years old and even back then they had some respect for others to poit at least.Today none of them can even say that about theirselves