Morning Star.png French-backed coup ousted Gbagbo Lawyers accuse former colonial power James Tweedie, The Morning Star, London, 2 February 2016 Ousted Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was the victim of a French-backed coup, his defence team told the International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday. Lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the court at The Hague in the Netherlands that Mr Gbagbo was working to restore democracy in his country when he was overthrown by supporters of current President Alassane Ouattara backed by French commandos and mercenaries. On Thursday, Mr Gbagbo and co-defendant Charles Ble Goude pleaded not guilty to four charges - including murder and rape allegedly committed by his supporters during violence that left 3,000 people dead after the 2010 presidential election. Prosecutors accused Mr Gbagbo last week of unleashing violence to cling to office after losing a run-off vote to Mr Ouattara. Political narrative Mr Altit called that version of events a "political narrative . intended to justify the use of force against President Gbagbo." Mr Gbagbo was overthrown by forces loyal to Rally of the Republicans candidate - and former International Monetary Fund deputy managing director - Mr Ouattara after months of street violence in the wake of the election, which international observers and the African Union confirmed Mr Ouattara had won. On December 2 2010, Ivorian Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman Youssouf Bakayoko announced Mr Ouattara's victory from the opposition candidate's campaign headquarters because he said he felt it would not be safe for him to speak from the IEC offices. The Constitutional Council then declared Mr Gbagbo the winner after annulling votes from seven northern regions, alleging that polling had been marred by intimidation by Mr Outtara's forces. Both candidates had themselves sworn in, provoking a bloody conflict in which the prosecution alleges Mr Gbagbo unleashed Liberian mercenaries on ethnic minorities which had supported Mr Ouattara. French special forces intervened on behalf of Mr Ouattara, storming the presidential palace and facilitating Mr Gbagbo's arrest. He has now become the first head of state to face trial at the ICC. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-c350-Gbagbo-I-lost-power-in-coup-backe d-by-France#.VrAi-rJ9600> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-c350-Gbagbo-I-lost-power-in-coup-backed -by-France#.VrAi-rJ9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
