by Nurat Uthman
The Ivory Coast president on Thursday pardoned 51 civilian and military prisoners, including a general, linked to post-electoral violence.
President Alassane Ouattara told the National Security Council (CNS) of his decision for the men sentenced for offences committed “during post-electoral crises and against State security,” the council said in a statement.
Among those pardoned was a supporter of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, General Brunot Dogbo Ble, who was jailed for 18 years for the 2011 kidnapping, torture and murder of two Frenchmen, a Malaysian and a Benin national.
The statement said the pardon was part of the president’s “commitment to work resolutely to consolidate peace.”
Ouattara won 2010 elections defeating incumbent president Gbagbo, who was eventually forced from power after a brutal post-election conflict.
