The appeals judges deemed that if the suspect were granted provisional release, he might flee justice.
At the beginning of June this year, the lower court referred the Gbagbo case back to the Prosecutor, saying it needed more evidence before it could decide whether or not to refer Gabgbo for trial. This followed confirmation of charges hearings three months earlier. The Court said the evidence presented was not lacking in “relevance and probative value” but was too reliant on NGO reports and press articles, and needed a fuller investigation by the Prosecutor.
According to the Prosecutor’s office, some 3,000 people died in election related violence between December 2010 and April 2011 perpetrated by both supporters of Gabgbo and of current Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara
ER/ JC