International Criminal Court judges on Thursday rejected a senior Ivory Coast politician's claim for compensation after he was acquitted of involvement in deadly violence following elections in 2010.
Former Youth Minister Charles Ble Goude was cleared in 2019, along with former president Laurent Gbagbo of responsibility for crimes including murder, rape and persecution following the disputed elections.
Judges halted the trial before defense lawyers had even presented evidence, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case.
Appeals judges upheld the acquittals last year. Ble Goude's laywers subsequently filed a written request for compensation, arguing that he was “the victim of a wrongful prosecution amounting to a grave and manifest miscarriage of justice.”
Using two ways of calculating compensation, Ble Goude's lawyers sought either 819.300 euros or 381.900 euros ($937,402 or $436,893) compensation.
Dismissing the request Thursday, judges ruled that the failed case did “not rise to the level of a wrongful prosecution and no other form of a grave and manifest miscarriage of justice has been shown to have taken place.”
More than 3,000 people were killed in violence that erupted after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by his rival, current Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara in the 2010 election.
