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                 Former Ivory Coast Leader Goes on Trial at ICC

   by VOA News

   Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo will go on trial Thursday
   at the International Criminal Court for his role in his country's
   post-election civil war in 2010.

   Gbagbo, the first former head of state to be tried at The Hague, is
   facing charges of crimes against humanity, including rape and murder,
   for the four-month-long conflict that left 3,000 dead.

   Prosecutors say the 70-year-old Gbagbo launched the war to cling to
   power, despite losing the presidential election to his bitter rival,
   Alassane Ouattara.

   The conflict finally ended after France, Ivory Coast's former colonial
   ruler, sent in troops to restore order and arrest Gbagbo, who was holed
   up in the presidential palace during the war.

   "The objective of the trial that starts tomorrow is to uncover the
   truth through a purely legal process," ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
   told reporters at The Hague Wednesday.

   Former youth leader Charles Ble Goude will also stand trial with
   Gbagbo.

   The ICC also has a warrant for the former president's wife, Simone, on
   charges of crimes against humanity, but she was sentenced last year to
   a 20-year prison sentence by an Ivorian court.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/former-ivory-coast-leader-goes-on-trial-at-international-criminal-court/3166163.html