ICC Unseals Arrest Warrant for Gbagbo Ally
October 01, 2013
by VOA News
The International Criminal Court has unsealed an arrest warrant for Charles Ble Goude, an alleged organizer of the 2010-2011 post-election violence in Ivory Coast.
The ICC accuses Ble Goude of coordinating attacks against civilians believed to oppose then-Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
It says Ble Goude, who led Gbagbo's Young Patriots movement, had the power to control militias that attacked specific ethnic or religious communities in Abidjan and in western Ivory Coast.
The warrant says he also helped recruit and arm thousands of volunteers for the militias, which operated in concert with the army.
More than 3,000 people died in Ivory Coast after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat in the 2010 election, setting off six months of unrest.
Former president Gbagbo has been in ICC custody since November 2011 and faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Ble Goude is currently in custody in Ivory Coast, where he was charged with war crimes and murder in January.
Last month, the Ivorian government said it would not transfer former first lady Simone Gbagbo to the ICC, where she faces charges of crimes against humanity. The government said Simone Gbagbo would instead be tried in an Ivorian court.
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