From News 24

The International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed that Ivory coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo will face trial for crimes against humanity, throwing out an appeal by the defence.

“Preliminary Chamber I rejected the defence’s request to appeal against the decision relative to the confirmation of the charges,” the court based in The Hague said in a statement.

No date has yet been set for the trial of Gbagbo on four counts of crimes against humanity, allegedly committed at the end of his 10-year rule over the troubled west African country, once he refused to accept defeat in an election in November 2010.

His supporters clashed for five months mainly in the economic capital Abidjan with those of President Alassane Ouattara, who was proclaimed winner of the vote by the electoral commission, at a cost of at least 3 000 lives.

Gbagbo, 69, was arrested in April 2011 by pro-Ouattara forces with backing from former colonial power France and the United Nations.

He was transferred to the Hague the following November, becoming the first ex-head of state to face prosecution at the ICC.

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