ICC orders Laurent Gbagbo to remain in detention

THE HAGUE,

Former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo must remain in detention in The Hague pending a possible trial on charges of crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court ruled Tuesday.

"The appeals chamber dismissed the grounds for appeal raised by the defence," against a decision ordering Gbagbo held pending charges for orchestrating post-2010 election violence, the court said in a ruling.

The ICC has yet to confirm the charges against Gbagbo for his role in the bloody election standoff nearly three years ago.

Judges said in June that they needed more evidence before charging the former Ivory Coast strongman, who has been held by the ICC for almost two years.

Gbagbo, 68, is accused of fomenting a wave of violence that swept the west African nation after he refused to concede defeat in the November 2010 poll.

Five months of fighting followed, ravaging the world's top cocoa producer and claiming some 3,000 lives, according to the United Nations, many of them perceived supporters of election winner and current Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo was captured in April 2011 when Ouattara's forces, with French and UN backing, overran his heavily fortified compound in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan.

He was transferred into the custody of the ICC -- which had issued an arrest warrant against him -- some seven months later and has been held in the ICC's detention unit in The Hague ever since.

Gbagbo -- who has accused former colonial power France of being behind a political plot to oust him -- has denied the charges.