Simone Gbagbo,the former first lady of Ivory Coast Trial For charges of crimes against humanity Opens Tuesday May 31,2016

 

The trial of Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady of Ivory Coast, on charges of crimes against humanity opened Tuesday May 31,2016  in the country’s highest criminal court, the Cour d’Assises in the Ivorian city of Abidjan as the West African nation faces a pivotal moment in confronting its violent past.

 

It opens just five days after the Supreme Court rejected her final appeal against the 20-year sentence she was handed last year in her first trial.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, suffered months of bloodshed after Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters refused to accept defeat to Ouattara in a 2010 election.

The violence was ultimately halted by an international military intervention under a UN mandate, led by former colonial power France, and the Gbagbos were arrested in April 2011.

It’s not the first time the 66-year-old former Ivorian first lady has had a brush with justice.

In March 2015, an Ivorian court sentenced Simone Gbagbo to 20 years in prison in connection with the post-election violence between December 16, 2010 and April 12, 2011.
The charges included undermining state security, disturbing public order and organising armed gangs in the aftermath of the presidential election, which her husband,Laurent Ghagbo, refused to concede.

Simone Gbagbo also faces crimes against humanity charges  at The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for “exercising joint control” over crimes committed by pro-Gbagbo forces.

Since she was captured on April 11, 2011, by forces loyal to current Ivorian President Alassane Quattara, Gbagbo has faced numerous charges related to the country’s violent post-electoral period, accusations she has repeatedly denied.