Opposition leaders convicted in the north

A court in the northern town of Korhogo has given a local leader of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) party a six-month suspended jail sentence on Thursday for public order offences, party sources told IRIN.

Local RDR party member Kone Lacina was convicted under a law that holds the organiser of demonstrations responsible for the violence that accompanies them. The leader of the party’s youth wing in the town was imprisoned for four months for public order offences while three others were acquitted, an RDR official in Abidjan said.

Under the same law, a court in Abidjan sentenced 11 national leaders of the RDR to two years in prison on 12 November. Five others were given one year prison terms following RDR protests over the government’s ruling that their leader, Alassane Ouattara, is ineligible to run for president in next year’s election.