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ABIDJAN—Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo went on trial in
Abidjan on Friday for her alleged role in stealing an election her
husband lost in 2010 and resisting efforts to dislodge him in a civil
war that followed.
The trial of Gbagbo and 82 other civilians and soldiers is the most
important of its kind in the country since Laurent Gbagbo was driven
from the presidency in April 2011 and replaced by the winner of the
October 2010 vote, Alassane Ouattara.
The trial before nine jurors began under heavy security and was being
widely followed by Ivorians via radio broadcasts, witnesses said. It
is expected to last at least a month, according to lawyers.
"If she is found guilty, she will get 20 years to life because we are
talking about a crime against state security," said prosecutor
Soungalo Coulibaly.
Ivory Coast had earlier refused a request to hand over Simone Gbagbo
to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where her husband is
being held, arguing she should be tried in a domestic court.
Laurent Gbagbo and an associate, Charles Ble Goude, are being held in
the Netherlands pending trial at the ICC on charges including crimes
against humanity.
Accusations against all three stem from events that followed 2010
elections. Gbagbo lost to Ouattara but declared himself the winner and
was only driven out by rebels and an international military force led
by France.
Some 3,000 people died in the war that was widely viewed as avoidable
had Gbagbo stepped down. Simone Gbagbo gained a reputation during her
husband's decade in power as an influential hardliner who rallied
opposition to the country's northern rebels.
Since the war, the former first lady has been under house arrest in
northern Ivory Coast. She was brought to the commercial capital
Abidjan this month ahead of her trial.
