Abidjan – The African Union’s human rights court on Thursday rejected a petition by Ivory Coast’s ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, who argued his rights were violated by a criminal conviction that is blocking his comeback bid.
The court, known as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, also threw out a petition by ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro, who like Gbagbo is barred from running in Ivory Coast’s elections this year because of his criminal record.
Gbagbo was the west African country’s leader from 2000 until he was forced from power in 2011 in a bloody civil war that brought current President Alassane Ouattara to power.
Gbagbo has declared his candidacy for the October 25 presidential election, even though he is ineligible to run because of a conviction stemming from the conflict.
Several prominent opposition figures have been excluded from the October election, including Gbagbo, Soro and Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI).
Gbagbo and Soro petitioned the African Court in 2020, arguing their rights had been violated by the Ivorian justice system.
The Tanzania-based court ruled Gbagbo had provided insufficient evidence and was not the victim of discriminatory treatment.
It threw out Soro’s case, ruling he had not exhausted his appeals in Ivory Coast.
In 2020, the same court had issued provisional orders ruling both men must be allowed to run in that year’s elections.
Ivory Coast has however withdrawn recognition of the court’s jurisdiction.
Gbagbo, 80, who was acquitted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, still has a conviction in Ivory Coast stemming from the violent post-election crisis that ended his rule.
Soro, 53, who is in exile, was sentenced to life in prison in Ivory Coast on corruption and insurrection charges.
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