An international appellate court has rejected former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo’s bid to remain free while awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity, al-Jazeera reported.
 

Gbagbo has been charged as an “indirect co-perpetrator” of post-election violence for refusing to leave office after losing a November 2010 runoff election in that country and faces trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The United Nations has estimated that at least 3,000 people were killed in violence that followed the runoff, and prosecutors allege that Gbagbo is culpable for murder, rape and other crimes against supporters of the man who defeated him: current Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo, 68, was arrested in April 2011 and extradited to the ICC in The Hague on Nov. 30, 2011.

He claims he is innocent of the charges. In June, the ICC postponed a decision on whether the case against Gbagbo would go to trial because prosecutors had provided insufficient evidence, according to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

The court asked prosecutors to consider providing more evidence or conducting more investigation of the Gbagbo matter by Nov. 15, 2013.

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