ICC issues arrest warrant against Simone Bbagbo

Written By:Agencies,    Posted: Thu, Nov 22, 2012

She is due to be tried in Ivory Coast on genocide charges. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo, accusing her of crimes against humanity committed during the West African nation's post-election conflict in 2011. The warrant, which was issued on February 29 but remained sealed until Thursday, alleges she was "criminally responsible for murder, rape, other forms of sexual violence, other inhumane acts, and persecution". Rights groups said risks deepening the widespread perception of winner's justice as no forces loyal to the current government have been arrested despite evidence of crimes being committed on both sides. Reconciliation efforts have lagged as a result. Former President Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to accept defeat in a late 2010 election triggered the brief war, is already in The Hague awaiting trial on similar charges. Violent street protests slipped into all-out combat between soldiers and militias loyal to Gbagbo and fighters supporting current President Alassane Ouattara, who received the backing of United Nations and French troops. More than 3,000 people died in the conflict. The warrant accuses Simone Gbagbo, who is currently in custody in Ivory Coast, of participating in the planning and orchestration of the violence. "Simone Gbagbo was ideologically and professionally very close to her husband ... Although unelected, she behaved as the alter ego of her husband, exercising power and taking state decision," the warrant said. "There are reasonable grounds to believe that the pro-Gbagbo forces who executed the common plan, did so in obeying in an almost automatic way orders received from Simone Gbagbo," it read. Ivory Coast is not party to the Rome Statue, the treaty which founded the court, but it granted the ICC jurisdiction for crimes committed during the post-election violence. The government did not immediately say whether it planned to extradite Simone Gbagbo, who was arrested along with her husband in April 2011 as fighting came to an end and is currently being held under house arrest in the northwestern city of Odienne. She is due to be tried in Ivory Coast on genocide charges. "We've just been informed of this. We will now examine the situation and take a decision," government spokesman Bruno Kones said. As reported by Reuters.