A witness at the trial of Ivory Coast ex-First Lady Simone Gbagbo, who is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, told a judge the defendant distributed arms that were used in the war which followed her husband’s 2010 defeat in the polls, the AFP news agency reports.
Mrs Gbabgo has been on trial since May 2014 and the proceedings in her case resumed on Monday after being postponed for several weeks.
The witness, in his sixties, alluding to a massacre which took place in an Abidjan suburb during the conflict told the court:
Madame Gbagbo distributed arms to Abobo, [where] an atmosphere of fear and trauma [reigned].” The witness however admitted he did not see it happening personally, prompting Simone Gbagbo to counter as quoted by AFP:
This gentleman was a witness to nothing and the victim of nothing. We are up to the 27th witness and so far none of them have provided any overwhelming evidence against my client.”
The trial in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city continues.
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