A court in Ivory Coast has sentenced Simone Gbagbo, the wife of the former president Laurent Gbagbo, to 20 years in prison for her role in a 2011 post-election crisis in which around 3,000 people were killed, her lawyer said.

Simone Gbagbo, who is also wanted by the international criminal court, was tried alongside 82 other allies of her husband in a case that revived deep divisions in a nation still recovering from years of political turmoil and conflict.e Dadje.

The sentence handed down by the six-member jury was longer than the 10 years requested by the state prosecutor. The former first lady’s civil rights will also be suspended for a period of 10 years, Dadje said.

Laurent Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the ICC accused of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in orchestrating the violence. Ivory Coast refused to transfer Simone Gbagbo to The Hague to face similar charges, arguing that she could receive a fair trial in a domestic court.

The trial verdicts were announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning after around nine hours of deliberations by the jury, Dadje said.

Pascal Affi N’Guessan, president of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party and seen as a potential candidate to challenge Ouattara in presidential elections later this year, was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.

On Monday, the final day of the trial, Simone Gbagbo said she had been insulted and humiliated by the prosecution, which she said had failed to prove her guilt.

“I’m prepared to forgive. I forgive because, if we don’t forgive, this country will burn,” she said. “I am satisfied with this trial. I told my part of the truth.”. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/10/ivory-coast-court-sentences-wife-of-ex-president-to-20-years-in-prison

I wish her behind steel bars..

K

Hmmmmmm..

10 yrs more than what the prosecution requested.

That explains a lot.

Africans, digging divisions for themselves in the past 600yrs

The french don't want Gbagbo in power cos they know what he can do n they r bringing ambiguous n false charges against him. They r backing Outtarra a man they can control n push around.
It's time Africa stands n fights for her own, it's long overdue