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Gbagbo Ally Says He Fears Torture if Returned to Ivory Coast
[An Nahar] A former Ivory Coast minister and key ally of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... said on Wednesday that he fears torture if he is extradited back to Ivory Coast from Ghana. Justin Kone Katinan, Gbagbo's front man and an ex-budget minister, has been fighting extradition since authorities in neighboring Ghana tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! him last August. Ivorian authorities have accused him of 20 counts of robbery and conspiracy to rob, and Katinan was in the witness box for the second day to defend against those charges. "They will torture me and I'll become disabled" if he returned to Ivory Coast, Katinan told news hounds outside the court in Ghana's capital Accra. Katinan said he was almost sent to Ivory Coast immediately after his initial arrest in August, but was saved by his attorney showing up in court in time to challenge the extradition. He said he fled to Ghana shortly before the downfall of Gbagbo because he heard that he and former interior minister Desire Tagro were to be killed by those loyal to President Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... . Tagro died in mysterious circumstances at the time of Gbagbo's arrest. "If I wanted to save myself, I had to run away," Katinan said. Posted by: Fred 2013-06-13 |
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