A complaint was filed in Paris, France against Guillaume Kigbafori Soro on Thursday 7 May 2020. In the said complaint, he is accused in particular of “torture”, “murder” and “war crime” for acts committed in 2004 and 2011 when he was the head of the New Forces.
In this complaint, the former prime minister is presented as the sponsor of the abduction followed by torture and murder of Ibrahima Coulibaly, a former Ivorian rebel leader, on 27 April 2011. The plaintiffs also demand prosecution for the deaths committed during the massacres in Bouaké and Korogo from 20 to 21 June 2004 almost two weeks after the fall of former President Laurent Gbagbo, during fighting between pro-soro and pro-IB rebel factions, “self-proclaimed general” by his real name Ibrahima Coulibaly. The latter was the rival of Guillaume Soro at the head of the rebellion. Accusations that Guillaume Soro contests through his lawyers
Guillaume Kigbafori Soro declared his candidacy in the presidential election of October 2020. He was sentenced by the Ivorian justice for corruption to 20 years in prison at the end of April 2020 for “embezzlement of public funds” and “money laundering”, in question, the purchase of his residence in Abidjan in 2007. He must pay a fine of FCFA 4.5 billion, his residence will be confiscated by the Ivorian state, all this led to the deprivation of his civil rights and the obligation to pay FCFA 2 billion in damages and interest to the State of Côte d’Ivoire. Even harder for the politician, he is also under the influence of an arrest warrant issued by the Ivorian authorities
The former President of the National Assembly has long been an ally of President Alassane Ouatarra, whom he helped to gain power during the post-electoral crisis of 2010 and 2011 to the detriment of Laurent Gbagbo, the ousted president. The former rebel leader has been living in exile in France since December 2019.
This new complaint could further weaken his political position and ambitions, but for the time being, Guillaume Soro’s candidacy is still being maintained.
