The Hague, October 2, 2014 (FH) \u2013 Former Ivorian Youth Minister Charles Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 on Thursday told the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was confident he would one day be acquitted, at least by history. This came as he spoke for an hour at the end of four days of confirmation of charges hearings.<\/p>\n
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The stakes were high for the prosecution, which must convince the judges it has a strong enough case to send him to trial.<\/p>\n
Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9, who was Youth Minister under ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, is suspected of crimes against humanity committed during violence that followed November 2010 presidential elections in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. According to the UN, that crisis in the country left more than 3,000 people dead. \u00a0Summing up, prosecutor Eric McDonald said Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 was not Martin Luther King as his lawyers claimed, but had \u201cmobilized and manipulated\u201d a whole generation of youth in his country. This provoked protests from supporters of Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 who were present in the public gallery. The prosecutor claimed that the suspect had given quasi-military orders to a youth army, and asked the judges to commit him to trial.<\/p>\n
As his lawyers Nick Kaufman and Claver Ndri were wrapping up their arguments and he was preparing to take the stand, the Ivorian ex-minister told his prayer beads. Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 pleaded his cause at length with a confident charisma that the prosecutor said had allowed him to mobilize the youth for purposes of a criminal plan to keep Gbagbo in power. Turning to the judges, Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 said he had confidence in their justice. But he also reproached them, as well as the prosecutor, for not mastering the Ivorian situation properly and reminded them of accusations that the ICC is going after African leaders who are not docile enough. \u201cYou are going to convict me, but one day I will be acquitted by history,\u201d he finally told them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never possessed weapons,\u201d he said, pointing an accusing finger at the prosecution. \u201cI have never distributed weapons. I am afraid of war and I am not ashamed to say so.\u201d Claiming to be \u201cthe man behind the idea of resisting with bare hands\u201d, Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 brought sighs of admiration from his supporters, who drank in his words. \u00a0 Finally, he seemed to be speaking to the current Ivorian government and supporters of President Alassane Ouattara, those who he said had sent him to The Hague to remove him from the political scene. \u201cWhy are they doing that?\u201d he asked. \u201cThey are afraid of political competition!\u201d Laughter from the public. Parodying the prosecutor\u2019s words, he said Ouattara\u2019s supporters \u201calready had a common plan: they wanted power at any price\u201d. In conclusion, he sent a final message to his adversaries: \u201cPrison is hard, but it doesn\u2019t last for ever. I am convinced that one day, there will be light again and I will return home.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the start of hearings on Monday September 29, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda took the stand before the judges for the first time to present the prosecution\u2019s case against \u201call those who commit crimes, on whichever side they are\u201d. She has often been criticized for sparing the \u201cvictors\u201d of the 2010 crisis.<\/p>\n
The judges are now deliberating, and are scheduled to hand down their decision by January 15. If they decide to confirm the charges against Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9, the prosecution may then ask to have his case joined to that of Laurent Gbagbo, so that the two men be tried together. \u00a0SM\/ER\/JC<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Hague, October 2, 2014 (FH) \u2013 Former Ivorian Youth Minister Charles Bl\u00e9 Goud\u00e9 on Thursday told the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was confident he would one day be acquitted, at least by history. This came as he spoke for an hour at the end of four days of confirmation of charges hearings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-24913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n