Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo Trial to Begin at The Hague

First ICC trial against Gbagbo and Ble Goude omits victims on the other side of the 2010-2011 Ivory Coast violence.
When Paolina Massidda rises to address the judges, her voice will speak for 726 people whose wives were shot, daughters raped and houses burned.

Massidda joined the International Criminal Court shortly after it opened its doors in 2002. She participated in the first-ever ICC case and has represented the interests of around 1,500 people since.

As a legal representative of victims at the ICC, she will stand for the interests of the victims of the post-election violence that rocked the Ivory Coast in 2010 and 2011.

On Thursday the ICC will open the trial against the two alleged main perpetrators: former president Laurent Gbagbo and his ally Charles Ble Goude.

They have been charged either with four counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts or – in the alternative – attempted murder. After the speeches by the prosecution and the defence, Massidda will deliver her opening statement.

It is the first trial at the ICC against a former head of state and has taken more than four years to get off the ground, after Gbagbo was transferred to The Hague in November 2011.

“Most people in Ivory Coast are relieved it’s starting,” Massidda told Al Jazeera. Last month she met some of her clients in Ivory Coast to prepare them for the start of the trial.

Massidda is an Italian lawyer with a warm smile and a light rolling “R”. With her small team, she oscillates between The Hague and the countries where those who experienced genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity live.

Last year alone, she visited the Ivory Coast 12 times.

Aljazeera

Posted by Editor on January 28, 2016. Filed under AFRICA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry