The appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court will issue its ruling on March 31 at 3 p.m. Hague time. Accused of crimes against humanity committed during the post-election violence of 2010 and 2011, the former Head of State and his short-lived minister were acquitted in January 2019. But the prosecutor had appealed this acquittal. Answer therefore on March 31. What are the possible scenarios?
Among the possible scenarios, the judges could decide to confirm the two acquittals. The case would then be definitively closed, almost ten years after the opening of the file. The conditions imposed on their release would be lifted immediately. Laurent Gbagbo, who lives in Belgium, and Charles Blé Goudé, who resides in The Hague, could return to Côte d’Ivoire, both exonerated.
In her appeal, the prosecutor had asked the judges to dismiss the case in lieu of acquittals, citing “procedural flaws. This is the second possible scenario. The dismissal of the case does not close it definitively. It does not clear the accused. And it leaves open the possibility of new proceedings.
Asked by judges during a hearing about the consequences of such a decision, the prosecutor said she might ask for a new trial against the former president and the former leader of the Young Patriots. Fatou Bensouda was asking for a second chance.
Other scenarios are possible, but considered unlikely, such as the continuation or resumption of the trial in first instance, which stopped before the hearing of the defense witnesses.
Finally, one of the questions that will weigh on the history of this case will be whether or not the five judges of the appeals chamber will rule unanimously on the future of the two Ivorians