[ 2011-12-02 ]

I. Coast's Gbagbo 'in shock' over transfer to ICC: lawyer
THE HAGUE (AFP) - Ivorian ex-president Laurent
Gbagbo is "in shock" over his sudden transfer to
the International Criminal Court to face murder
and rape charges, his lawyer Emmanuel Altit told
AFP on Friday.

"He is still in shock over the surprise and
suddenness of this removal, but at the same time
he is lucid and ready to fight," said Altit, who
met with his client on Thursday at the ICC's
detention centre in a suburb of The Hague.

The two were to meet again on Friday.

"It was something very painful, hard to endure,
brutal," said Altit, adding that Gbagbo, 66,
"never knew what to expect because the defence was
taken by surprise".

Gbagbo was unaware that the transfer would take
place immediately after he was informed on Tuesday
of his indictment at the main courthouse in
Korhogo, the northern town where he been detained
since April.

"When I saw him yesterday, he was wearing only the
shirt and trousers he had on in Korhogo. No one
told him he was leaving," Altit said, asserting
that "no rules were respected" during the hearing
in Korhogo on Tuesday.

"When he left the Korhogo courthouse, he thought
he was going back to his cell, but instead he was
going to the Korhogo airport to take a helicopter
for Abidjan," from where he flew to The Hague,
Altit said.

Gbagbo on Wednesday became the first former head
of state to be handed over to the ICC, where he
will face charges of murder, rape, persecution and
other inhuman acts.

The crimes were allegedly committed between
December 16, 2010, and April 12, 2011 -- a period
of post-electoral violence as Gbagbo refused to
accept election results which showed his rival
Alassane Ouattara had won.

Some 3,000 people were killed in the clashes.

Gbagbo will make his first appearance before ICC
judges on Monday, when he will ask the court to
recognise the "irregularity of his arrest (and)
transfer to The Hague," Altit said.

Source - AFP

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