Guillaume Soro, the former president of the National Assembly of Cote d’Ivoire who has been in exile in France since end December 2019, is due to be tried on Tuesday 28 April at the Abidjan criminal court. Last week, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights demanded that the Ivorian state suspend the arrest warrant. On Sunday, Guillaume Soro’s lawyers asked the authorities to respect the African Court’s decision and suspend the trial.
In the press release, the legal advisers of the former president of the National Assembly and declared candidate for the presidential election of October, believe that this hearing has only one objective : to make their client ineligible. They also state that the procedure violates all the rules of law. And therefore that they will not attend the trial.
The trial must address part of the charges, those of embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, which Guillaume Soro has always rejected. For the Ivorian state’s lawyers, the African Court’s decision is only provisional and does not prevent the hearing from taking place. Although the Court has given the authorities 30 days to execute its ruling.