Former president Laurent Gbagbo will return to Ivory Coast on June 17 after 10 years following his acquittal of crimes against humanity during a civil war, a party official said Monday.
In April, the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague confirmed that Gbagbo and his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude were in the clear over the devastating post-electoral violence that rocked the West African nation in 2010-11.
"I am announcing the return of president Laurent Gbagbo on Ivorian soil on June 17," said Assoa Adou, general secretary of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party Gbagbo founded.
More than 3,000 people were killed in months of fighting after the 2010 election, when Gbagbo disputed the results of the vote won by current President Alassane Ouattara and refused to stand down.
Gbagbo was eventually forced out of power and became the first head of state to stand trial at the ICC, though both he and Ble Goude always insisted they were not guilty of crimes against humanity.
Despite spending years behind bars in the Dutch city, as well as time in Brussels as he awaited the outcome of an appeal against his acquittal in 2019, the deeply divisive ex-president retains strong support at home.