The International Criminal Court in The Hague has freed former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. The court acquitted Gbagbo, who has been in custody since 2011, of all war crimes charges.
Judges at The Hague-based court delivered the eagerly awaited decision on Tuesday morning, clearing 73-year-old Gbagbo of all charges of crimes against humanity over post-electoral violence.
Head judge Cuno Tarfusser said the court granted “the defence motions for acquittal for all charges for Mr Laurent Gbagbo,” as well as his co-defendant, Charles Ble Goude.
Tarfusser said that a majority of the three-judge bench found that “the prosecutor has failed to satisfy the burden of proof” against both men.
Lawyers for the pair had asked judges to acquit them both over a lack of evidence at the end of the prosecution case in their trial that began just under three years ago.
Gbagbo’s supporters, many of whom had traveled to The Hague, broke into cheers
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