ICoast President Ouattara pardons predecessor Gbagbo

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara announced on Saturday that he had pardoned his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo, who was still serving a 20-year sentence over political unrest in 2018.

“In the interest of strengthening social cohesion, I signed a decree granting a presidential pardon,” Ouattara said in a speech marking the 62nd anniversary of the country’s independence.

He also asked for Gbagbo’s bank accounts to be unblocked and his annuity paid, he added.

And he had signed a decree releasing two of Gbagbo’s closest associates, former naval chief Vagba Faussignaux and former commander of a key gendarmerie unit, Jean-Noel Abehi, both convicted of their roles in the post-election unrest.

Gbagbo was acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of alleged war crimes committed during the 2011 civil war that erupted after he refused to recognize Ouattara’s victory in the presidential election a year earlier.

But in 2018 an Ivorian court handed Gbagbo a 20-year sentence in absentia for looting the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the country’s post-election crisis.

After his acquittal by the ICC, Gbagbo returned from exile in 2021, and the 77-year-old political veteran has kept a low profile ever since.