Gbagbo accuses France of attempted assassination

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo has reportedly filed a lawsuit in a Paris military court accusing the French army of attempting to assassinate him after he was ousted from power in April, following months of civil conflict.

By News Wires (text)

AP - Ex-Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo has filed a legal case accusing the French army of his attempted assassination following the April operation to oust him, legal sources said Thursday.

France and the United Nations backed the forces of Gbagbo rival and new ruler Alassane Ouattara in the offensive which saw him and his wife Simone placed under house arrest.

The country had by then endured four months of clashes after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in a November poll.

An investigating magistrate has been appointed since the complaint was lodged at a Paris military court on July 5 by Gbagbo's lawyers, the source said.

France has defended its part in the April 11 raid, stating that its troops and those of the United Nations Operation in Cote D'Ivoire (Onuci) only had a supporting role.

"At no time did French forces enter the presidential gardens or residence" where Gbagbo had taken refuge, general staff spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard has said.

Gbagbo and his wife have been charged with "economic crimes" and President Ouattara wants to see them tried before the International Criminal Court.

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Date created : 16/09/2011

Comments (3)

Despot

by Garry (not verified) - 18/10/2011 - 06:04

Someone should have assassinated him when he took the country by force all those years ago. The murdering swine deserves nothing and he will get his punishment very soon because God is his judge. Calls himself a devout christian? What a joke! Him and his evil woman should rot in a sewer pit for what they and their followers (who will also be found by Interpol) hav e done to the Ivorian people.

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Stroke it off.

by Toure Tia (not verified) - 22/09/2011 - 01:46

The charges Gbagbo is sueing france military for an assassination attempt is uncalled for and should be striked off from the court.

Bravo,Sarkozy,if not the intervention of the UN and france military forces,Gbagbo and his cohort could have killed all of us,the forces came in to safe us,we love and need Sarkozy in Africa otherwise this so called tyrant dictators will never quit.