According to a judgment made public Thursday, the International Criminal Court has lifted its arrest warrant for former first lady Simone Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire over post-election violence that killed thousands in 2010-2011.
Following her husband’s refusal to hand up power to Alassane Ouattara, Simone Gbagbo was charged with crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, inhuman actions, and persecution.
The unrest claimed the lives of over 3,000 individuals.
In a seven-page judgement reviewed by AFP and dated July 19, the court said, “The chamber believes it acceptable to decide that the warrant of arrest for Simone Gbagbo shall cease to have force.”
In a statement, her lawyer Ange Rodrigue Dadje said, “Good news for Madame Simone Gbagbo… she can now travel freely across the world.”
Laurent Gbagbo was cleared of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in March, and he returned to Cote d’Ivoire on June 17 after ten years in prison in The Hague, where the ICC is situated, and later in Belgium.
Although Simone Gbagbo was not handed over to the ICC, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Ivorian court in 2015 for endangering state security.
Following a presidential pardon, she was released on August 8, 2018.
President Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo met for the first time in over ten years on Tuesday, and Ouattara declared that the turbulence was “behind us.”
Laurent Gbagbo sought a divorce upon his return to Ivory Coast, citing the 72-year-old Simone’s “repeated unwillingness over the years to consent to an amicable split.”
They have two daughters and married in 1989.
Gbagbo, who is 76 years old, is currently married to Nady Bamba, a 47-year-old former journalist.