A court in Côte d’Ivoire has upheld the life sentence of opposition leader Guillaume Soro, who is in exile in France, for «attacking the security of the State» and «public order problems».
The verdict also includes the ratification of the 20-year prison sentences against eight other persons – among them Simon Soro, brother of the opponent -, while two other defendants have been acquitted, according to the Ivorian news portal Koaci.
Among those convicted are Souleymane Kamaraté, who was Soro’s protocol director, and Major Jean-Baptiste Kouamé, former head of security for the opposition leader when he was president of the Ivorian National Assembly.
Defense lawyer Gohi Bi said the ruling comes after a political process and stressed that «they did not expect anything else.» «We are not going to abdicate. We will fight until all the accused are acquitted, as in the case of Alain Lobognon and Félicien Sékongo,» he said, referring to the two freed men.
«We do not understand how it is possible that these two people, about whom we asked for their release in the first instance, were convicted and are now acquitted for the same facts as other convicted people,» he has argued. «What has changed if they are reproached for the same facts?» he has asked.
For his part, prosecutor Abdoulaye Ben Méité has applauded the verdict and said he is «totally satisfied» with it. «We are very happy. People try to make believe that it is a political process, but in reality the facts presented against the defendants are well established,» he has concluded.
The Ivorian Prosecutor’s Office charged 19 people in the case, 14 members of the security forces and five civilians, all of them people close to Soro in connection with an arsenal located in the Assinie lagoon, where phones and documents were also found.
Soro was also sentenced in April 2020 to 20 years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering for the purchase of a property in 2007, when he was prime minister, an amount that the prosecutor claims should have been returned to the state.
The politician led the failed 2002 coup attempt against then president Laurent Gbagbo. After controversial presidential elections in 2010 and a brief civil war, it was Alassane Ouattara who came to power with Soro’s support.
However, there was subsequently a rift between the two and Soro finally resigned in February 2019 from his position as speaker of parliament. Previously, he was prime minister between April 2007 and December 2010–under the presidency of Gbagbo–and between April 2011 and March 2012, already with Ouattara in power.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
