The French journalist Frédéric Taddeï is also indignant signing on his Newsring an article entitled "Stop the costs." "has it
not become urgent to put an end to this travesty of international
justice that acts as an additional instrument of domination at the service of he current powers ?" He wrote. Finally,
the Amnesty International report, published on Monday entitled "Ivory Coast- the law of the winners," adds fuel to the fire. "Ivory Coast remains the scene of serious human rights violations against
actual or alleged supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo," can be
read as an introduction. 88 pages support these information.
Now for Geraldine
Mattioli, director of the division justice to the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) to say that it's a political smokescreen to claim Ouattara should also appear before the ICC, because it adds nothing to
the Gbagbo defense is not surprising since most of the fakes reports used by Ouattara are from the HWR( founded by George Soros the greatest evangelist of the new world order and open society/market). Notice the ICC linked to the UN very involved on the Ivory Coast(world first producer of Cocoa for Chocolate) election frauds and all the unrest that followed causing more than 3000 officially. The ICC is also supported financially by George Soros friend and partner Anthony "Choc fingers" Ward the head of Amajero into Chocolate trading. Do you see the combination ? They are on alert because this is clearly an economico-political issue which if it goes as it's ought to will have many heads rollings... So here what the legal legitimate President of Ivory Coast M Laurent Gbagbo said at the hearing :
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen judges
I
followed these debates, I heard a lot of things, some times I found
myself in Ivory Coast, but other times so far away. So the questions asked were far from what we experienced. And I said why in the modern justice is there entrenched camps.
Because
on many issues, both the prosecution and the representative of the
victims as well as yourself you could call me, I could provide with answers that
would be information. That you could check but after thin reasoning. I could say a lot about small issues.
For example, when it's said "he(President Gbagbo) signed a paper to deploy the army, ever. I signed a decree that all FDS might be mobilized. But it is a practice that dates back to 1961, which dates from the time when the army was created. The Head of State may in times of trouble, signed a decree. Because the police is the police, then there's the gendarmerie.
But if these two forces are fully submerged they may call in the army reinforcements. And so for that, the President signed a decree that he gave to the different heads. It is for them to use the army or not to use, it depends on what they think or the situation. So this is practical things like that and small that I could explain.
When
the leader of FDS came to tell me ... the situation in Abobo, there are
soldiers from IB, I think it's them the invisible commando, so we do not
know how it will go ...I said what do we do? He said good sign a decree anyway and then we will keep it, and if we do not need, we do not need it, but if we do need ... So there is a lot of things like that.
And should not you give me siblings that I do not have.I think we want to be like in Europe, to say the Africans that is how they govern. I do not govern with my family!
I am the Head of State, President of the Republic and my wife is MP , Kadet is not my nephew. The word nephew is a French(English) word. I have nephews who are here in this room. But Kadet is not my nephew. He was Minister for Defence, he was my advisor. I do not govern with my family!
Maybe it happened like that elsewhere in Africa but not in Ivory Coast at the time of Gbagbo.
That
is to say, there are little things like that which could have been avoided
... and it prevents us from going immediately to the bottom of the
problem.Madam Speaker, my lifeand that, it is not only in Ivory Coast but throughout Africa and throughout France politics, I fought for democracy.
I have asked my lawyers last week, I told them that I wanted to send you all the books I've written about my journey. They told me that it was too late. (...)
We did not know that. So we fought with courage .... But we were convinced that ourselves will not see democracy triumph. But the Berlin Wall collapsed and helped us win the victory of multiparty democracy.
So that's why I just want to say and I will not go further. I would simply say that Madam Prosecutor said something that shocked me somehow.
By saying that we are not here to see who won the election and has not won. But we can not talk, and can not discuss the post-election crisis and do not know how the elections went over.
Who won the election? Because it is he who has not won that sowed disorder/ troubles. I think that's the logic.
So the question is: Who won the elections? And so when I asked I said lets count the votes, it was not a sentence in the air.
You saw yourself available documents to the prosecution on which and the voices of the voters are listed. We have seen that in the only city of Bouaké, they added 100,000 votes to my opponent.
That is the substance of the matter. We were attacked in 2002, I've done my job. That is to say, I have never believed that Ivory Coast would get thing sorted through the war. I never believed it. I always thought we would pull through discussion. Even though I know they are wrong. But to get by, I've always believed in the discussion.
So I traveled throughout Africa. It has made the Lomé negotiations. They Marcoussis Kléber negotiations and meeting . But this I leave that aside ... we've had negotiations Accra 1 , Accra 2, Accra 3 under the chairmanship of John Kuffor. We did the negotiations in June 2005, Pretoria Pretoria 1 and 2, under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki.
We all did. We have done everything possible to advance the discussion. Pretoria is where I asked Thabo Mbeki to help me find a legal solution for Alassane to be candidate . Because it poisons the situation. It is in Pretoria in 2005.
We met Thabo Mbeki, Konan Bedie, Ouattara and myself. I asked Ouattara to translate between Thabo Mbeki and me. This is where I said it did not bother me that Ouattara becomes candidate . But
as my electorate is also there, so we must ask Thabo Mbeki to write to
all of us in Abidjan after that I can make a decision.
I did not like Article 48 of the Constitution. It's like Article 16 of the French Constitution, it gives a lot of power. But that day, I took the article 48 of the Constitution and I allowed Konan Bedie and Ouattara to be candidates.
Thus madam this is what I wanted to say.
Our country, our states - and this will be my last point - are fragile. And
every time a Head of Western or European State tells me to make democracy
in Africa, I told him we need democracy not because, you say it, but
because we, ourselves, actually need to build our countries.Mrs. In Ivory Coast look, if we do not use democracy, how do we choose the head of state?
There;s in the the eastern, backed to the Ghanaian border, the Akan who have a way for them
to choose their village leaders or township or their kings. We have in the west power scattered. We have the Islamized north of the Malinke who gather around mosques and alongside them, Senufo who are in sacred groves.
What type election will we take?
So democracy helps us. Because it gets rid of all that and it gives each considered individual citizen, one vote. That is why I am committed to the fight for democracy.
Especially us who come from low-income families, if there is no democracy, there we would never get to higher positions. I
think people with whom I was at school, when I was elected president,
they were not surprised because they knew my commitment. But they came to greet me, to salute my courage. Because I was not the most supported , I was not the smartest, I was not the richest ...
So we need democracy Madame. But democracy is not only the vote, it's who proclaims the vote. That's also democracy.
When they go to take a night, the chairman of the electoral group (IEC
Ed.), who is led in the electoral headquarters of a candidate, they
invite a foreign television, telling him to make a declaration and they film him and diffuse it the next morning. It is not very democratic that's not democracy.
Democracy, is the respect for the texts, starting with the highest standards of law that is the Constitution.The one who does not respect the Constitution is not democratic.
Madam, it is because I respected the Constitution, that they want bring me here. Well I'm here, but I'm counting on you.
I
trust you because I would like all Africans who support me and are here all
the time before the Court, before the prison, who are in their country
protesting, walking, all of these African to understand that the salvation of the African states, is the respect we give Constitutions and laws made thereunder.
Thank you, Madam.
HEM Laurent Gbagbo President of the Republic of Ivory Coast
28 February 2013 at the ICC