Gbagbo case: The ICC Appeals Chamber confirms the decision adjourning the hearing on the confirmation of charges
Situation: Côte d’Ivoire
Case: The Prosecutor v. Laurent Gbagbo
Today,
16 December 2013, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
dismissed the Prosecutor’s appeal against Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision
adjourning the hearing on the confirmation of charges in the case against
Laurent Gbagbo. Following this decision, Pre-Trial Chamber I will establish in
due course a new calendar on the disclosure of additional evidence and
submissions of the Prosecutor, Defence and victims participating in this case.
On 3 June 2013, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued, by majority, a decision adjourning the hearing on the confirmation of charges and requested the Prosecutor to “consider providing, to the extent possible, further evidence or conducting further investigation” with respect to a number of specified issues, relating to the factual allegations on 41 incidents underlying the contextual elements of crimes against humanity and the four incidents with which Mr Gbagbo is charged (attack of demonstration in front of the premises of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Ivoirienne, attack during the women’s demonstration in Abobo, bombing of Abobo’s market and adjacent areas, and the Youpougon incident) . On 12 August 2013, the Prosecutor filed an appeal against this decision.
In today’s judgment, the Appeals Chamber dismissed the Prosecutor’s appeal against Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision. The Appeals Chamber noted that, on appeal, the Prosecutor argued that she had relied on the four incidents with which Mr Gbagbo had been charged to establish that an ‘attack against any civilian population’ (one of the contextual elements of crimes against humanity, as defined under article 7 of the Rome Statute) had taken place. The Appeals Chamber found that this did not accurately reflect the charges that the Prosecutor had presented for the purpose of the confirmation of charges hearing. The Appeals Chamber noted that, at the confirmation of charges hearing, the Prosecutor relied on 41 incidents, in addition to the four incidents with which Mr Gbagbo was charged, in order to establish that an attack had taken place. As a result, the Appeals Chamber found that the Prosecutor had failed to demonstrate that Pre-Trial Chamber I erred by treating all 45 incidents as forming the ‘attack against any civilian population’ in the meaning of article 7 of the Rome Statute.
Background: According to the arrest warrant issued against him, Laurent Gbagbo allegedly bears individual criminal responsibility for four counts of crimes against humanity: a) murder, b) rape and other sexual violence, c) persecution and d) other inhuman acts, allegedly committed in the context of the post-electoral violence in the territory of Côte d’Ivoire between 16 December 2010 and 12 April 2011. He was surrendered to the ICC on 30 November 2011 and he first appeared before the Pre-Trial Chamber on 5 December 2011.
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