An Ivorian court has on Tuesday sentenced Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former president of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo to 20 years imprisonment.
Simone was on Monday convicted for her role in the post-election violence of 2010 which claimed no fewer than 3,000 lives.
After much deliberation, the court, presided over by Tahirou Dembele, unanimously condemned the 65-year-old former Ivorian first lady to the jail term of 20years despite prosecutors’ demand for a 10-year sentence.
Laurent Gbagbo is currently in the custody of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for about three years, awaiting trial over similar charges.
Gbagbo had refused to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara after the later was announced winner of the 2010 presidential election, and in the aftermath, violence broke out in the Coast.
He is held in The Hague facing charges of crimes against humanity by the ICC but Ivorians have repeatedly refused to hand his wife over to the court on the same charge.
The presidential couple were arrested April 11, 2011 after five months of fierce fighting following a final push by French forces against their residence.
Fervently Christian but ruthless by reputation, Simone Gbagbo has never sought to deny exercising political influence after her husband rose to power in 2000 elections in which former prime minister Ouattara was barred from standing on the grounds he was a foreigner.
“All the ministers respect me, and they often consider me above them. I’ve got what it takes to be a minister.
“I engaged in political struggle against the former regime alongside men. I spent six months in prison, I was beaten, molested, left for dead. After all those trials, it’s logical that people don’t mess with me,” she told the French newsweekly l’Express in 2001, justifying her stance after a life she said had been dedicated to activism.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/laurent-gbagbos-wife-jailed-for-20-years/

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