The International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague has acquitted Ivory Coast ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.

Mr. Gbagbo who had been charged with crimes against humanity in connection with violence following a disputed 2010 election that left three thousand dead and five hundred thousand displaced, was captured in 2011 in a presidential palace bunker by UN and French-backed forces
supporting his rival, Alassane Ouattara.

He was the first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC, but however denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated.

The violence in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, came after Mr. Gbagbo refused to accept that he had lost a disputed election run-off to Mr Ouattara in 2010.

Prosecutors said Mr. Gbagbo clung to power “by all means” and charged him with four counts of crimes against humanity, murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and “other inhuman acts”. The ICC judges ruled yesterday that he had no case to answer and ordered his immediate release.

Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said prosecutors failed to demonstrate “the existence of a ‘common plan’ to keep Mr. Gbagbo in power as well as failed to demonstrate that public speeches by Gbagbo constituted ordering or inducing the alleged crimes. Prosecutors can appeal after the court files its decision in writing.