ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I commits Charles Blé Goudé to trial

​Situation: Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Case: The Prosecutor v. Charles Blé Goudé

Today, 11 December 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed four charges of crimes against humanity against Charles Blé Goudé and committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber. Pre-Trial Chamber I is composed of Presiding Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova (Bulgaria) and Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert (Belgium) who appended a partially dissenting opinion.

Charles Blé Goudé, born on 1 January 1972 in Niagbrahio, Côte d'Ivoire, was surrendered on 22 March 2014 to the ICC by the national authorities of Côte d´Ivoire following a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC on 21 December 2011. The confirmation of charges hearing took place from 29 September to 2 October 2014.

The Chamber thoroughly examined all the evidence submitted to it by the parties, which included more than 40,000 pages of documentary evidence, including statements by 134 witnesses, and more than 1200 items of audio and video material.  In light of the evidence and observations presented by the parties and participants to the proceedings, Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Charles Blé Goudé  is individually criminally responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder, rape, other inhumane acts or – in the alternative – attempted murder, and persecution committed in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, between 16 December 2010 and on or around 12 April 2011.

Mr Blé Goudé is accused of having engaged his individual criminal responsibility for committing these crimes, alternatively, as indirect co-perpetrator (under article 25(3)(a)), ordering, soliciting or inducing (25(3)(b)), aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting (25(3)(c)) or contributing in any other way to the commission of these crimes (25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute).

Subject to the right of the parties (the Prosecution and the Defence) to request leave to appeal against this decision to confirm the charges, the Presidency of the ICC will constitute a Trial Chamber in due course.

Decision on the confirmation of charges against Charles Blé Goudé

Questions & Answers about the decision (in French)

« News from the Court » audio-visual programme (in French)

YouTube (for viewing)
Video (MPEG-4) for download
Audio (MPEG-3) for download 

Further information on this case is available here.

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].

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