“You will be prosecuted,” says lead lawyer.
Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo remains defiant in the face of a global chorus of demands that he step down, as his most notorious lieutenant urged supporters to make ready to fight.
The United Nations, United States, European Union and Ivory Coast’s West African neighbours all demanded that Gbagbo cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara after both men claimed to have won last month’s presidential vote.
But the veteran strongman retains control of the official armed forces and his supporters have vowed to fight on, turning their anger on UN peacekeepers, the former colonial power France and Ouattara’s Ivorian supporters.
“Play time is over,” declared Charles Ble Goude, Gbagbo’s minister for youth, who has been under UN sanctions since 2006 for “acts of violence by street militias, including beatings, rapes and extrajudicial killings”.
