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ABIDJAN. — The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday rejected a request by the defence of Cote d’Ivoire’s ex-President Laurent Gbagbo who is detained at The Hague, to be released to attend his mother’s funeral in Cote d’Ivoire.
“On October 29, 2014, after having examined the arguments by the defence, the government, the prosecutor and the legal representative of victims, Trial Chamber 1 has rejected the request by the defence to release Gbagbo for at least three days to attend his mother’s funeral,” a statement from the Hague based Court said. Having returned on October 12 from Ghana where she had fled into exile since the end of the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, Gbagbo’s mother, Mrs Marguerite Gado who was aged over 90 years, died on October 17 when she was returning to her village of Gagnoa in the central-western region of the country.

ICC said Gbagbo’s request was based on “humanitarian circumstances” but judges were not “persuaded” that “all specific conditions will sufficiently reduce the logistical and security concerns.”

“The Chamber has concluded that it may not justify granting of the request, because doing so could risk the lives of Cote d’Ivoire population, the Court’s personnel and Gbagbo himself,” the statement said.

Gbagbo was transferred to The Hague in November 2011 after his arrest on April 11, 2011 due to violence that left at least 3 000 people dead in the country following his refusal to accept the victory of his rival Alassane Ouattara. He is facing charges of crimes against humanity, especially murder, rape, inhuman acts and persecution. — Xinhua