Two weeks after the start of the joint trial of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé , the witnesses fled the court, a scenario which is not far from that of President Uhuru Kenyatta which ended in a dismissal after the withdrawal of the main witnesses of Fatou Bensouda .
“ Fleeing once you arrive is less serious than giving false testimony to convict a man ”. This is the comment made by a user on February 16, 2016 on the wall of the d’ivoire business site following the article ” Thunderbolt at the ICC: 4 witnesses of Fatou Bensouda on the run. The Dutch police on their heels. For this Internet user, the key witnesses of Fatou Bensouda would have chosen not to be on the side of the people through whom the conviction of Blé Goudé and Laurent Gbagbo , respectively former minister and president of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, would come.
For other Internet users and many Ivorians, these supposed witnesses bit a pole; namely to take advantage of this case to go to Europe. This is also the opinion of this Internet user who posted this on the wall of the aforementioned site “It is very difficult these days to obtain a visa to go find yourself in Europe. Many false witnesses have found a goldmine there to travel to Europe visa and airfare at the expense of the UN. Others hope to take advantage of the UN victims’ aid fund after the trial to make a small fortune to finally be able to invest in an activity in Cote d’Ivoire. Everyone wants to win on the back of Laurent Gbagbo . Bensouda is in his game. Each witness has his own”.
The third hypothesis emanating from the people most versed in the backwater of Ivorian politics seems to be the most solid. According to them, these witnesses have taken to their heels because they know that their testimonies are based on falsehood. Indeed since the beginning of the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses in the joint trial of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé , the FPI-” Gbagbo or nothing” has already reported several untruths mentioned by the witnesses, including the one bearing the number P.547. In a statement signed by its Secretary General, Acting Spokesperson Koné Boubakar , the FPI-” Gbagbo or nothing” denounced several inconsistencies in the statements of this witness.
According to a source in The Hague, they decided not to testify anymore because they feared being caught in the act of lying during the trial.
Indeed, since the start of the trial of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé on January 28, 2016 at the ICC, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda ‘s witnesses have been constantly caught in the act of lying, if they do not contradict each other, or if they do not do not accuse the prosecutor of falsifying their testimonies. According to the newspaper Le Monde , the Court is on the verge of implosion. The ICC is in total confusion, more than ever discredited.
And now ?
With this withdrawal of key witnesses, the Kenyan scenario is taking shape for its two defendants, point out many politicians and specialists in judicial issues. During the trial of President Uhuru Kenyatta , several witnesses fled or withdrew and this trial in question was concluded by a dismissal after withdrawal of the main witnesses of Fatou Bensouda . This is what could happen in the said trial if the situation continues as it is. Also, the contribution of a new piece of evidence which invites itself in this trial could harm forever the hopes of the prosecution and the power in place in Côte d’Ivoire. This is the confidence that would have been made by Bensoudato a Central African politician at a ceremony in the Netherlands. According to the South African newspaper which reports the information, Fatou Bensouda confessed to a Central African politician “ There is nothing serious against Gbagbo ”. “I am under pressure from France”. “I can’t do anything about it .”
More seriously , Pascal Bida Koyagbele , the Central African politician to whom this testimony is attributed, in an interview granted to the radio “Ivoire News” based in the United States assumed these remarks before indicating “the prosecutor cannot deny what she would have told him a year ago . Pascal Bida Koyagbele goes further in the interview by indicating that he is ready to go to the ICC, to testify in favor of the former Ivorian head of state. With the ICC timetable, will this be possible? In any case, the leak of witnesses and the revelation made by the Central African politician are a real blow to Bensouda ‘s head.. Also, it is a real vinegar drink which is offered to the power of Abidjan and to France which wishes to see Gbagbo condemned and kept far from his country. But will all these facts be enough to convince the presiding judge Cuno Tarfusser to release Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé accused of crimes against humanity in the post-election crisis of 2010 which would have killed more than 3,000 people?
