Gbagbo, Soro election challenge dismissed

The African Court of Human Rights, Arusha, Tanzania, has turned down petitions by former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro challenging their bans on the running in the country’s October elections, reports RFI. Gbagbo and Soro petitioned the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2020, arguing their rights had been violated by the Ivorian justice system, which has barred them from standing in the 25 October Presidential election. The court ruled on Thursday that Gbagbo had provided insufficient evidence to challenge his ban and was not the victim of discriminatory treatment. It threw out Soro's case, ruling he had not exhausted his appeals in Cote d'Ivoire. Gbagbo was the west African country's leader from 2000 until he was forced from power in 2011 in a bloody civil war that brought current President Alassane Ouattara to power. Gbagbo (80) has declared his candidacy for the October poll. While he was acquitted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, a conviction in Cote d'Ivoire stemming from the violent post-election crisis that ended his rule means he is ineligible to run. Soro (53), a former Prime Minister and one-time rebel leader, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in 2021 on charges of plotting a coup against Ouattara. He lives in exile in Niger. Several other prominent opposition figures have also been excluded from the October election, including Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire. In 2020, the same court had issued provisional orders ruling both men must be allowed to run in that year's elections. The African Court was established by member states of the Organisation of African Unity to protect human rights and provide an avenue for redress when national judiciaries are unable to dispense justice.

Full RFI report