Prosecutor Demands Life Jail for Ivory Coast’s ex-First Lady

The prosecutor in Simone Gbagbo’s war crimes trial in Ivory Coast has requested a life jail term for the former First Lady.

“Gentlemen of the jury, you will declare Madame Gbagbo guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentence her to life imprisonment,” prosecutor Aly Yeo urged in his closing argument at the country’s top criminal court in Abidjan.

Gabgbo, currently in prison serving a separate 20-year sentence for “endangering state security”, is boycotting the trial. Her defence team was not in court either.

The chief prosecutor described her as a shadowy figure who orchestrated attacks on her husband’s opponents.

“After her spouse came to power, she started to impose herself as the real head of Ivory Coast, the army, the police and gendarmerie,” Yeo said, in comments reported by AFP.

He accused her of heading a crisis cell, “a genuine decision-making body”, which allegedly coordinated attacks by armed forces and pro-Gbagbo militias.

Nearly 3,000 died in the violence that followed the 2010 elections, after her husband, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to accept defeat.

The evidence came from documents found at the home of the presidential couple, when the pair were arrested on September 11, 2011, the prosecutor said.

“She replied to correspondence from arms dealers offering weapons and combat helicopters,” Yeo added.

Her husband, Laurent, is on trial for crimes against humanity, having been handed over in November 2011 to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC also wanted to prosecute his wife and issued a warrant for her arrest, but Ivorian authorities refused to hand her over, insisting she would receive a fair trial at home.

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