ICC says ‘intensified’ probe into Ivory Coast’s president’s supporters

Gbagbo is accused, together with a former youth minister, Charles Ble Goude, of involvement in atrocities that left 3,000 people dead after a disputed 2010 presidential election runoff in their West African nation.

Mr Gbagbo made the disclaimer on Thursday when he appeared at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the opening of his war crimes trial.

After remaining holed up for months in the fortress-like presidential palace, Gbagbo was eventually arrested by Ouattara’s troops aided by United Nations and French forces. He pleaded not guilty to four counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A lawyer representing victims of the civil war, Habiba Toure, said the ICC risked “losing credibility” as it had failed to pursue anyone from the other side of the conflict. Under Mr Gbagbo, many northerners were not allowed to vote, while Mr Ouattara was banned from standing for election until 2010.

Gbagbo’s wife Simone is also wanted for crimes against humanity by the ICC, but she was sentenced to 20 years in an Ivorian jail last year and the government refuses to hand her over.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said four militants managed to escape after the collapse late on Tuesday in the north-east of the Palestinian enclave. “Gbagbo is a man of peace”, the 51-year-old lamented, expressing a view of the former leader not universally shared in Ivory Coast.

“We have 138 witnesses, including insider witnesses, crime-based witnesses, and expert witnesses, so this is what we will be presenting to the judges”.

Gbagbo refused to accept defeat against Ouattara after the elections.

Gbagbo’s supporters accuse the court of being selective in its prosecutions, though court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she had stepped up investigations into the pro-Ouattara camp.

Agenor Youan Bi, president of a pro-Gbagbo organization in Abidjan’s sprawling, working-class Yopougon district, said he expects hundreds if not thousands of supporters to show up at an events hall Thursday for a screening of the trial’s first day. Gbagbo and Ble Goude – known as the “general of the streets” – were handed over to The Hague after the ICC issued arrest warrants.

Prosecutors at the ICC allege that the two men organized the police, army, and youths into a militia nicknamed the “Young Patriots”.

Human rights group Amnesty International said that the trial “offers hope” for victims but warned that the ICC “must ensure that justice is done for all victims of crimes under international law committed in Ivory Coast”.

But others warned that a failure to address abuses committed by the president’s supporters could raise tensions in the world’s biggest cocoa producer, where Mr Ouattara cemented his position in elections a year ago and presided over almost 10 per cent of economic growth.