Michel  GBAGBO  THE  CAPTIVE  OF  BOUNA  

A  French  Citizen  in  OUATTARA’s  Jails  

   

Maître  Habiba  TOURE  –  Maître  Serge  MOMMY  GBE    

JULY  2012  

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INTRODUCTION

The incumbent President of Côte d’Ivoire Mister Laurent GBAGBO and his opponent Mister Alassane OUATTARA having failed to overcome their political dispute peacefully, entered into violent clashes following the contested presidential election.

Thus, Côte d'Ivoire had to face a civil war opposing the Ivorian regular army to Mister Guillaume SORO's rebel forces, which supported Mister Alassane OUATTARA, and were therefore designated as “Pro-OUATTARA Forces”.

I. PRESENTATION OF THE PRO-OUATTARA FORCES

The hostilities started with violent attacks of a specific rebel group called the “Invisible Commando” (Commando Invisible).

A. THE INVISIBLE COMMANDO

The “electoral” conflict began in Abidjan with terrorist attacks on civilians considered as “Pro- GBAGBO”.

Indeed, a rebel group naming itself the Invisible Commando (IC) started slaughtering civilians, slitting their throats and burning them alive.

The head of the IC, Ibrahim Coulibaly, aka “General IB”, was Mr. Alassane OUATTARA's former personal bodyguard.

The IC headquarter was in the Abidjan district of ABOBO. Since the IC lived dissimulated among the civilians, with no military outfits, their attacks were very difficult, if not impossible, to predict or prevent.

In a report dated May 2011, Amnesty International denounced serious human right violations committed by the IC.

B. THE REPUBLICAN FORCES OF CÔTE D’IVOIRE (FRCI)

The “Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire” (Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire) military group was created by Alassane OUATTARA under an alleged Ordinance dated March 17th 2011. The Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI) was essentially composed of former rebel military forces that took the name of Armed Forces of the New Forces (Forces Armées des Forces Nouvelles).

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Before being renamed FRCI, the Forces Armées des Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) were known and feared for their recurrent attacks on civilians in the beginning of 2011.

Human Right Watch denounced those acts in the following terms:

“The exactions witnessed primarily during the Republican Forces military assault in the west of the country, occurred again in April, when they took control of Abidjan, started searching for weapons and hunting down militiamen…

Sometimes during systematic and organized operations, sometimes by mere vengeance, the Republican Forces took collective reprisals against young men supposedly related to President Laurent GBAGBO’s ethnic group, committing summary executions and inhuman treatments similar to torture, on detention sites and their surroundings,.”1

The above must be considered knowing that those attacks were lead by “Area Commanders” (Commandants de Zone) under the direct authority of Mr. Guillaume SORO, who is Prime-Minister and Minister of Defense of Mr. Alassane OUATTARA’s parallel government, and thus acts under the direct authority of the latter.

The Pro-OUATTARA forces main Area Commanders (AC) are identified as follow:

Morou OUATTARA, aka “Atchengue”, in charge of the “Atchengue” military unit, controlling the area of Bouna (North East of Côte d'Ivoire);

Herve Pelikan TOURE, aka “Vetcho” or “Che Guevara”, in charge of the military unit called the “Mystic Battalion” (Bataillon Mystique), controlling the area of Katiola (Center North of Côte d'Ivoire);

Ousmane CHERIF, aka “Guepard” (Cheetah), in charge of the “Cheetah” military unit, controlling the area of Bouake (Center of Côte d'Ivoire). According to Human Right watch, “He was Chief of the Republican Forces for the operations in Yopougon during the final assault on Abidjan, where several presumed Pro-GBAGBO civilians were summarily executed. According to a soldier of his unit (Cheetah unit), Ousmane CHERIF himself gave the order to execute 29 prisoners in early May. According to an IRIN (Humanitarian News and Analysis Service) report of 2004, Ousmane CHERIF who was for a long time Chief Commander of the FAFN in Bouaké, supervised troops involved in the summary execution of 277 Liberian and Sierra Leonean mercenaries. On August 3rd 2011, President OUATTARA promoted Ousmane CHERIF to the position of Second Commander (Commandant-en-second) of the Presidency security group”2;

Zoumana OUATTARA, aka “Zoua”, in charge of various military units controlling the area of Mankono (Center West of Côte d'Ivoire);

Issiaka OUATTARA, aka “Wattao”, in charge of the “Anaconda” military unit, controlling the area of Séguéla (West of Côte d'Ivoire);

                                                                                                               1  Human Right Watch Report, October 2011, pp 105, 106 2 Ibid, p 125

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Losseni FOFANA, aka “Loss”, in charge of the “Cobra” military unit, controlling the area of Man (West of Côte d'Ivoire). According to Human Right Watch, “on March 10, he [Loss] was entrusted by Guillaume SORO with the title of Chief of the “Pacification of the far West”, acknowledging him as the supervisor of Captain Eddie Médi, and the Chief Commander of the Republican Forces offensive in the West of the country. Also known as “Loss”, he was Area Commander of the “Forces Nouvelles” in Man. Soldiers under his command took control of the city of Duekoue in the morning of March 29, and played an active role in the massacre of hundreds of people in the “Carrefour” district. No serious action was taken by Loss to prevent those crimes or to punish those responsible in his ranks. (...) According to the Ivorian press, he was promoted to the Vice-Commander of a Special Elite Forces position, and was invited to follow a special training in France”;

Dramane TRAORE, aka “Dramane Touba”, in charge of various military units controlling the area of Touba (Far West of Côte d'Ivoire);

Ousmane COULIBALY, aka "Ben Laden," in charge of various military units controlling the area of Odienne (North West of Côte d'Ivoire). As he was for a long time AC of Odienne, Ousmane Coulibaly supervised soldiers of the Republican Forces involved in acts of torture and summary executions in the Koweit district of the city of Yopougon (Abidjan.). Although those crimes occurred for several weeks, Ousmane Coulibaly seems to have taken no action to prevent them or to punish those responsible. At that time, Ousmane’s war name was “Ben Laden”. He changed it on June 20th 2011, to “Ben the Wise”. Today, Ousmane Coulibaly is still Commanding Officer of FRCI;

Gaoussou KONE, aka “Jah Gao”, in charge of various military units controlling the area of Boundiali - Tingrela (North West of Côte d'Ivoire);

Martin Kouakou FOFIE, aka “Fofié”, in charge of the “Fansara 110” military unit (meaning “merciless”). Mr. Fofié controls the area of Korogho (North of Côte d'Ivoire) and is under sanctions of the United Nations.

Therefore, the case of Michel GBAGBO must be examined in consideration of the above-mentioned individuals and under the light of the above-reported elements.

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II. PRESENTATION OF MICHEL GBAGBO

Michel Koudou GBAGBO is a French citizen born in September 24th 1969 in Lyon.

After Paris and Abidjan, he lived for several years in Strasbourg (France).

He is the son of former President Laurent GBAGBO and Mme Jacqueline CHAMOIS, French citizen.

Michel GBAGBO always defined himself as Ivorian and French, very attached to his double culture which constitute his identity and that he considers as a chance.

He went to elementary school in Côte d’Ivoire, before coming back to Lyon for his middle and high school.

He passed his Bachelor degree at the “Lycée Technique d’Abidjan” in 1990, before entering the University of Abidjan.

After working in France for a short period of time, he came back to Côte d’Ivoire to pursue a career as an Economic Geography teacher.

In 2007 he wrote a PhD dissertation on the “Issue of the social reinsertion of people that were affected by mental diseases in Côte d’Ivoire, the case of Abidjan”.

Michel GBAGBO has thus a PhD in psychology, specialty psychology of social life, and is also a writer, author of several books.

Michel GBAGBO is married to Mme Viviane DOUKPA, and is the father of 3 children, two of whom were 4 and 7 at the date of the events.

Michel GBAGBO never had and never sought any leadership position in the “Front Populaire Ivorien” (his father's political party), nor in any other political party.

As a discreet person, he made sure to always remain away from his father’s political activities.

On the fact of being President GBAGBO’s son, he once said “being the son of the President is not a position, it’s an accident of History, a biological coincidence”3.

                                                                                                               3  Interview with the Journal Ivorian Gbich October 25, 2010

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Michel GBAGBO essentially devoted his time doing his job as a psychology research teacher in at the University of COCODY in ABIDJAN (Côte d'Ivoire.)

III. THE CONTEXT OF THE MICHEL GBAGBO’S CAPTURE: THE POST-ELECTORAL CRISIS

As we previously mentioned, the presidential election of October 2010 between the two main rivals, incumbent President Laurent GBAGBO and Mr. Alassane OUATTARA, was followed by post electoral turmoil.

Indeed, two presidents came out of the election. President Laurent GBAGBO was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel), and Mr. Alassane OUATTARA, supported by some countries and the United Nations, was declared winner by the Independent Electoral Commission that based its decision on “preliminary results”.

This situation degenerated into a major political crisis, leading to countless killings and creating a climate of total insecurity in Côte d’Ivoire.

In this context, on Thursday March 31st 2011, Michel GBAGBO, his wife and his children had to seek refuge near his father and the rest of his family, at the Presidential Palace.

IV. THE CAPTURE OF MICHEL GBAGBO

On Friday April 1st 2011, in order to remove President Laurent GBAGBO from office, the Presidential Palace, particularly the bedrooms, were targeted by heavy bombing.

On Tuesday April 5th 2011, under the intensifying bombing, Michel GBAGBO and his family took refuge in a basement room of the Presidential Palace, in which they had to sleep on the floor.

On Wednesday April 6th 2011, the Area Commanders set on fire the vehicles parked before the library so as to smoke the entrance of the basement.

Because of that fire smoke, Michel GBAGBO and his family had to leave the basement room they were hiding in, to take refuge in the “control room” where they can watch all the Palace rooms and its surroundings.

On Thursday April 7th 2011, when the bombings started over again, Michel GBAGBO and his family returned to the basement room, after the smoke has dispersed.

On Monday April 11th 2011 at 9 am, Area Commanders ordered to smoke out the Presidential Palace with smoke grenades.

The unbearable smoke of the grenade made Michel GBAGBO and his family tried to hide in the 1st floor.

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Since no one in the Palace had the keys to the 1st floor, President Laurent GBAGBO asked his Minister of Interior, Désiré TAGRO, to go out waiving a white handkerchief, so as to surrender and avoid more unnecessary killings.

As he was trying to exit the premises with his white handkerchief, Mr. Désiré TAGRO faced machinegun shots in his direction and had to come back into the Palace.

After they were able to open the rooms on the 1st floor, all the Presidential Palace employees were secured in a room, Michel GBAGBO’s children and their cousins were taken to the sport lobby, and Michel GBAGBO and his sisters stayed in a room with their parents, the Ministers and a few bodyguards.

Michel GBAGBO heard the soldiers under Mr. Alassane OUATTARA’s command entering the Palace and shooting out for about 3 minutes, in the sport lobby where the children were hidden.

Afterwards, the soldiers started hitting at the door of the room where Michel GBAGBO and his family were hidden, ordering them to come out.

Once they opened the door, the soldiers ordered everyone to go out in the corridor.

At that moment, one of Mr. Alassane OUATTARA’s soldiers recognized Michel GBAGBO and started beating him, ordering him to reveal his father whereabouts.

As Michel GBAGBO refused, the soldier pointed his gun at him and stood ready to shoot, while President Laurent GBAGBO decided to turn himself in to the soldiers, so as to prevent the execution of his son.

Under those circumstances, the Area Commanders and their gunmen captured President Laurent GBAGBO and all his family.

Afterwards, Messrs. Alassane OUATTARA’s and Guillaume SORO’s soldiers kept on beating Michel GBAGBO, robbing him and all his family of their personal belongings, under the threat of their machineguns.

After those persecutions Michel GBAGBO and his family were ordered to exit the Palace.

Outside, the premises, Area Commanders and some French “Force Licorne” troops on both sides of the exit way formed a “corridor of disgrace”, waiting for them to come out.

All along the corridor, Michel GBAGBO and his family had to undergo verbal and physical violence, spits and humiliations, right under the nose of French “Force Licorne” troops, whom apparently amused by the show, stood there laughing and taking pictures.

Michel GBAGBO and his family were then ordered to sit on the ground while Area Commanders soldiers were discussing on what to do with them, in their native language “Malinke”.

One of President Laurent GBAGBO’s relatives, who understood their language, distinctly overheard the gunmen as they were considering taking them to a secret place, to torture and execute them.

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He immediately translated the discussion to the French soldiers, asking them not to let such crimes happen.

After about 30 minutes of negotiations between the Area Commanders and the French troops, they decided to send Michel GBAGBO and all his family to the Golf Hotel, Mr. Alassane OUATTARA’s headquarter.

This is how Michel GBAGBO was transferred to the Golf Hotel, where, there again, he was beaten and sustained stab wounds right in front of foreign TV cameras.

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Pictures of Michel GBAGBO to the Golf Hotel

V. ARBITRARY DETENTION AND SEQUESTRATION OF MICHEL GBAGBO

Although no legal arrest warrant or house arrest order was served to Michel GBAGBO, he was detained for several days without any legal justification, before being transferred in a custody camp in BOUNA (North of Côte d'Ivoire), where he is still detained, mistreated and humiliated.

In fact Michel GBAGBO was illegally arrested on April 11th 2011, mistreated and took prisoner, while he was at the Presidential Palace with his family.

Neither Mr. Guillaume SORO and his Area Commanders, nor Mr. Alassane OUATTARA can provide any legal order or warrant justifying such an arrest.

Later on, the Ivorian authorities even admitted that Michel GBAGBO was not subject to any legal procedure at the time of his arrest.

Mr. Alassane OUATTARA reportedly served a house arrest order to President Laurent GBAGBO, his wife, and several of his staff members.

However, after verification, it appears that no trace of such order was found or published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, and the defendants never received

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notification of such order, which constitutes a clear violation of article 12 of law N0 63-4 of January 17th 1963, and article 25 et seq. of the application Decree N° 63-48 of February 9 1963 of Côte d'Ivoire.

The illegal custody of Michel GBAGBO, which is in fact a sequestration (condemned by International Law, as well as the Ivorian and the French Penal Code) is clearly demonstrated by the absence of house arrest notification.

Moreover, we note that:

Messrs Alassane OUATTARA and Guillaume SORO, and the aforementioned Area Commanders are unable to produce such decree;

Michel GBAGBO, however, is not in a jail or prison controlled by judiciary officials, but in a camp in the city of Bouna (North of Côte d'Ivoire), at 603 kilometers of Abidjan and under the authority of Area Commanders;

Michel GBAGBO's detention conditions are critical, and health and life threatening. The very few people who have been able to visit him witnessed unhealthy and unsecured living conditions, in a place infested with snakes, mosquitoes, and other venomous insects.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have estimated that long term detentions of people incarcerated because of their proven or alleged support to President Laurent GBAGBO, without legal procedure or trial is a violation of International Law, as provided by most human right legislations adopted by the United Nations and the African Union, and to which Côte d'Ivoire is legally bound party and member of the above-mentioned organizations4.

The illegal nature of this situation pushed the Ivorian authorities, several months later (in August 2011) to press charges against Michel GBAGBO, under whimsical and fallacious accusations.

Indeed, we note that each and every one of President Laurent GBAGBO's staff members are facing exactly the same charges:

Threat to National Defense; Threat to the State authority;

Constitution and participation to armed gang; Participation to an insurrectional movement;

Threat to public order; Coalition of government officials;

Rebellion; Usurpation of function;

Tribalism; Xenophobia; and

                                                                                                               4 Amnesty International report, June 2011, P. 7

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Complicity of above-mentioned infractions.

Actually, Michel GBAGBO's arbitrary detention, which again, happened long before he was legally charged, is only justified by the fact that he is the son of his father.

Indeed, in a video shot by Pro-OUATTARA forces, we can hear one the warlords speaking in poor French to Michel GBAGBO, in the following terms:

"Because now, if I want, I come at 2 in the morning and I spray you (i.e. shoot you). And nothing will happen. Get it? But I have the wish to protect, the wish of solidarity, and all that…

...GBAGBO's son, come here! So, in which year GBAGBO brought you in this world? […]

... Bow when you speak to me! In which year GBAGBO brought you in this world? […]

...Your mom, is she French or is she Cameroonian? […]

...Your mom, she’s French. Now that's sad…

You, did you do something? Tell me, you are innocent, right? You're innocent? It's all because of your father. It's because of your father's behavior…5"

This jailor just clearly admitted that there's no real charge against Michel GBAGBO, and that he is in this situation and is undergoing those treatments, just because he is the son of his father.

This truth was confirmed on June 29th 2011, by Alassane OUATTARA's Minister of Justice Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou, who released the following declaration to the Ivorian press:

Journalist N°1: "Mr. the Minister, we may have not been clear enough, Michel GBAGBO was taken from a bunker with 70 other people, who were released later at the Golf Hotel [Alassane OUATTARA’s HQ]. Why was he [Michel GBAGBO] not set free with the 70 others? That's what we would like to know.

Minister of Justice: "He was not released with the 70 others because he was with his father."

Journalist N°2: "But a child's place is near his father."

Minister of Justice: "No, he's an adult."

Journalist N°2: " Yes, but he can go visit his father."

Minister of Justice: "Yes, but... he is under house arrest. I can tell you, there're ongoing investigations. He had a preliminary hearing. There's enough evidence, the Judge gathered the evidence acquired from the preliminary investigations made by the District Attorney in

                                                                                                               5  Internet link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMKO4VyikmA

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Bouna6."

Based on those declarations, we note that:

At the time of his capture, Michel GBAGBO and his family were not in the said-bunker, but in one of the Presidential Palace room. For information, there is no bunker in the Presidential Palace;

At the time Mr. Alassane OUATTARA's Minister of Justice, Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou released this declaration, no charge were pressed against Michel GBAGBO. Those charges were pressed only 2 months later (August 2011).

It is here again important to note Mr. Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou confirmed that Michel GBAGBO is detained "because he was with his father."

Notwithstanding the absence of house arrest order or notification to Michel GBAGBO, the political and illegal nature of his custody is, according to Mr. Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou, only justified by the fact that he remained near his father.

However, under no law or legislation known in this world, the mere fact of being the son of one’s father constitutes a crime or a felony justifying such an arbitrary detention.

Witnessing this totally illegal detention, Amnesty International here again, declared on June 23rd 2011 that:

"Following the arrest of former President Laurent GBAGBO two months ago, the new Ivorian authorities have detained at least 50 people – including several famous Ivorian politicians – without pressing any charge against anyone of them.

Detaining and restraining people without pressing charges against them are a direct violation to International Law on Human Rights. The Ivorian authorities must, as soon as possible, press charges against detainees suspected of crimes or must immediately release them.

(...)Amnesty International is concerned with the idea that several people detained at the Pergola Hotel and elsewhere, have their right to freedom confiscated because of their opinions, either actual or alleged. In such cases they are prisoners of opinion7."

After covering up Michel GBAGBO's arbitrary detention under a legal framework, the Ivorian authorities let his health deteriorating in the forsaken camp jails in BOUNA.

Thus, day after day Michel GBAGBO saw his health deteriorating, because of regular mosquitoes and scorpions bites, and the harsh and dirty detention conditions.

                                                                                                               6 Mr. Thomas BAHINTCHI TV show, dated June 29th 2011, on TCI channel. Internet link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbGsfUYhvFs&feature=related 7  AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL statement dated June 29th 2011

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Jacqueline Chamois, Michel’s mother, extremely worried for her son's life, contacted several times the French authorities, especially the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in order to denounce the intolerable detention conditions of her son.

Mrs. Chamois sent several letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Alain JUPPE, in which she alerts on the illegal nature of her son's detention from April through August 2011, but also to express her serious concerns about the health issues he is facing because of his detention conditions.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied in the following terms, in a letter dated December 23rd 2011:

"On September 19th, a France Consulate General official visited him [Michel GBAGBO] in order to check on his detention conditions. They [detention conditions] appear conform to the local rules and his health is satisfying."

However, only a month later, Michel GBAGBO’s health condition deteriorated critically and required his emergent hospitalization at BOUNA’s hospital, and later, his transfer to the PISAM hospital (Polyclinique Internationale Sainte Anne-Marie) in Abidjan.

Michel GBAGBO's lawyers made several attempts to visit him at the PISAM hospital, but never succeeded. Indeed, although they had a legal visit permit, delivered by the competent authority under Ivorian Law (the Juge d’Instruction), the FRCI guarding Michel GBAGBO never authorized his lawyers to see him, pretending that they do not recognize the judge’s authority and only execute orders from the Minister of Interior, Mr. Ahmed Bakayoko.

Michel GBAGBO remained confined in his PISAM hospital room for nearly 3 months, surrounded by FRCI soldiers in his room, while other soldiers outside the room were making sure no one enters.

The following day, after a press conference given by Madame Jacqueline Chamois, on the critical situation of Michel GBAGBO and the multiple violations of his human rights, the Ivorian authorities transferred him back to his Bouna jail cell for an alleged hearing with the judge, with no prior notice to his lawyers.

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CONCLUSION

We can conclude that Michel GBAGBO's fundamental rights never ceased being violated since his capture on April 11th 2011.

He was molested and arbitrarily detained at the Golf Hotel, transferred to Bouna where he was tortured for several months, before finally being charged in August 2011.

Furthermore, although no charge can seriously be held against him, Michel GBAGBO is a victim of a long term preventive detention, and his jailors are none but the same people who illegally detained, mistreated and videotaped him, in inhumane and humiliating conditions.

Since April 11th 2011, Michel GBAGBO’s health condition gradually deteriorated, resulting in several hospitalizations.

However, his lawyers were never allowed to visit him during his stays in hospitals.

Moreover, since his human rights were regularly violated by the Ivorian authorities, we have serious concerns about the respect of his right to a fair trial as well as his right to a legal counsel.

Therefore, Michel GBAGBO’s case meets all the criteria constituting a hostage taking and a political imprisonment case.

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This document addressed to all readers, is intended to provide a better understanding of the context in which Michel GBAGBO was captured and detained.

Michel GBAGBO, French and Ivorian national, is held in custody since April 11th 2011 by the Ivorian authorities, for being the son of his father.

He was denied his human rights and illegally detained for several months.

Afterwards, under international community pressure and after a claim before the Court of Justice of the ECOWAS, Mr. Alassane OUATTARA's government had no choice but to charge him with anything in August 2011.

Those charges, which true purpose was none but to provide a legal ground to a totally illegal and arbitrary detention, do not justify or erase the crimes committed against him.

Today, after all the inhuman and humiliating treatments he underwent, and all the war crimes committed by Mr. Alassane OUATTARA's regime, Michel GBAGBO remains a forgotten prisoner in a prison cell of BOUNA, in the North East of Côte d’Ivoire.