In response to his 2018 conviction to a 20-year prison sentence in the case known as the “BCEAO Robbery” during the Ivorian post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo declared on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, in Abidjan that he is not a thief.
“Being excluded from the (Ivorian) electoral list is an injustice. I fulfilled my duty as a head of state. I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t rob the BCEAO. I didn’t steal money from the central bank. I am not a thief,” Laurent Gbagbo stated during a press conference.
Furthermore, the former Ivorian president, who leads the African People’s Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), asserted that when searching for thieves in Ivory Coast, one does not look in his direction. To achieve this goal, he protested against his removal from the Ivorian electoral list, claiming that he will have the “necessary time” to fight this battle after the upcoming local elections.
As a reminder, Laurent Gbagbo and three of his former ministers were sentenced in 2018 to a 20-year prison term and a fine of 329 billion FCFA in the “BCEAO Robbery” case.
