I.Coast's Gbagbo Handed over to World Court
The arrest of ex-Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo was "just the beginning" of the probe in the west African country, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Wednesday.
"This is the first case in the Cote d'Ivoire. It would not be the last case. This is just the beginning," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Agence France Presse in an interview by phone.
The former Ivorian president was transferred from northern Ivory Coast by charted plane to the Hague-based ICC's detention facility early Wednesday, where he is to face four counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody aftermath of disputed presidential polls last year.
Moreno-Ocampo told AFP that Gbagbo's transfer was the result of meticulous planning and close co-operation between the prosecutor's office and the Ivorian authorities.
"In Abidjan... we worked a lot. That's why we were so fast," said Moreno-Ocampo, adding his team completed all the interviews in one week to complete the investigation.
"We also got good co-operation from the Cote d'Ivoire prosecutor because they interviewed more than 160 victims," Moreno-Ocampo added, saying "they gave us an enormous amount of evidence."
"It was a combination of good co-operation," he said.
Gbagbo is facing four counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and other inhuman acts allegedly committed in the country after elections in December 2010, the court said.
The violence that followed Gbagbo's refusal to cede power after the poll in the West African country killed some 3,000 people according to the U.N.
Gbagbo was served an arrest warrant, sealed by judges in The Hague on November 23, nearly eight months after refusing to cede power after elections, plunging the country into a crisis.
The ICC has carried out its own investigation parallel to Ivorian justice, looking into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from December last year until April by both Gbagbo loyalists as well as supporters of new Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
Source: Agence France Presse
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