The exiled supporters of ex-president of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo have returned “to the country after ten years of exile.
The country also release hundred prisoners accused of violence related to the 2020 presidential election.
Six supporters of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, including former party officials, landed in Abidjan from Ghana under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in agreement with the Ivorian government, in the name of “national reconciliation”.
Dozens of activists on Friday welcomed some of the exiles, who include former budget minister Justin Katinan Kone and Laurent Gbagbo’s younger sister Jeannette Koudou at the airport
Among the returning exiles is Damana Pikass, who made a name for himself by snatching from a member of the electoral commission the results by region as it was being read on live television, which would have given Alassane Ouattara the victory over Laurent Gbagbo in the 2010 presidential election.
Damana Pikass said he returned to prepare, at his request the return of the former president, “to mobilize around the discourse of reconciliation and the gathering of the people of Côte d’Ivoire.
The return of the exiles precedes the expected return of Laurent Gbagbo himself, after his acquittal on March 31 by international justice for crimes against humanity committed during the crisis.
In early April, President Ouattara announced that Gbagbo was free to return to Côte d’Ivoire from Brussels where he currently lives – whenever he wished, but no date has yet been set.
Discussions are underway between the government and the FPI to determine the modalities and date of his return.
As the exiles returned from Ghana, Richard Adou, the Abidjan prosecutor, announced to the press the release of a hundred people whom the opposition calls “political prisoners”, incarcerated for their alleged role in the violence related to the last presidential election.
The Prosecutor disclosed that the investigating judges ordered on 28 and 29 April the provisional release or judicial supervision of a hundred defendants,”
He added that “102 people for whom investigations are continuing remain in detention,” adding that they could be released on bail or under judicial supervision.