From December 2010 to early April 2011, more than 1,000 people were killed and many more wounded in violence that erupted in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) after disputed presidential elections.

Following the subsequent investigation by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, former-president Laurent Gbagbo is now on trial for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by his forces during this period, alongside Charles Blé Goudé, one of his closest political allies. The two will be tried together before the ICC for allegedly conspiring to keep Gbagbo in office by any means possible after he lost the contentious 2010 presidential elections to his rival, Alassane Ouattara.

A new 10-page background briefing from the Open Society Justice Initiative provides factual information about the legal process, the events that led to the ICC’s intervention, and the current stand-off between the ICC and President Ouattara over Ivory Coast’s refusal to comply with a third, related arrest warrant, against the former president’s wife, Simone Gbagbo.