Gbagbo won 2010 polls, insists on-trial wife

Simone Gbagbo, former Ivorian first lady and wife of deposed leader, Laurent Gbagbo, has insisted that her husband won the 2010 presidential poll.

According to AFP, Simone on Monday questioned the charges against her husband while appearing in court for the first time to respond to allegations levelled against her for undermining state security.

“I don’t know exactly what the concrete actions are that I am being accused of,” she said.

Prior to her entry to the courtroom, police moved to separate supporters and opponents of the Gbagbo family, as emotions that could lead to riots were building outside the courtroom.

Her opponents were chanting “murderers” while her supporters were responding with “liars”, both parties referring to the post-electoral bloodshed in 2010.

The 65-year-old and 82 other defendants were accused of playing roles in the post-electoral violence that broke out in Abidjan when Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit defeat in the December 2010 election.

Laurent Gbagbo himself is in The Hague awaiting trial in July for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Gbagbos were arrested in April 2011, with Simone taken into custody in the north of the West African country while her husband was eventually turned over to the ICC.

There have been calls to turn Simone over to the ICC, but such calls have been refused by the Ivorian judiciary, insisting that the “Iron Lady” be tried in their homeland.

Fanta Soumahoro, a woman who described herself as the niece of a victim, told AFP outside the courtroom that she was here to have “justice to done”.

“We expect (Simone Gbagbo) to ask for forgiveness; we refuse to believe that she did nothing,” she said.

Ble Goude Junior, a supporter of the Gbagbos, said Simone did nothing: “She was the first lady. She wasn’t a soldier. She shouldn’t be here.”

The defeated regime allegedly used the military to attack the supporters of the declared winner of the poll, Alassane Ouattara, in a situation that claimed more than 3,000 lives.