Former Ivorian prime minister and rebel leader Guillaume Soro was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for “undermining state security”. The facts date from the end of 2019.
The Abidjan Criminal Court sentenced Souleymane Kamagati, the former head of the Soro Protocol, his former minister Afossi Bamba and his former head of communications, Toure Moussa, to 20 years in prison. Two of Soro’s brothers and his former right-hand man, Alain Le Bonignon, were sentenced to 17 years in prison for “disturbing public order”.
The court ordered the confiscation of the assets of Soro and his nineteen co-defendants, and the dissolution of his Générations et peuples Solidaires, which was accused of “acts of sabotage”. Together, the convicts must pay 1 billion CFA francs (about 150 million euros) to the Ivorian state.
Soro was accused of planning a “civilian and military uprising” to oust power upon his return to Côte d’Ivoire in December 2019, ten months before the October 2020 presidential election.
Guillaume Soro, 49, who lives abroad, was the leader of the rebels who took control of the northern half of Côte d’Ivoire in the 2000s. Alassane Ouattara helped come to power in a post-election 2010-2011 crisis, in which outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit his defeat. Soro became prime minister in the Ouattara government, but there was a rift between them after that.
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