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RDR members acquitted

[Cote d'lvoire] RDR demonstrators in Abidjan. IRIN
RDR demonstrators
    ABIDJAN

    Two leading members of the opposition Rassemblement des republicains (RDR) left court free men on Friday after being acquitted of charges linked to election-related violence last year.

    RDR spokesman Aly Coulibaly and Camara Vakramoko were charged with “complicity in the destruction of private and public property and disrupting public order”, relating to violence which erupted ahead of parliamentary elections in December 2000. The state prosecutor, Augustin Sery, had called for a year’s suspended sentence and a US $130 fine.

    Coulibaly told IRIN that his acquittal was a “moral victory for me and for my party.” He was arrested on 4 December at a friend’s home for allegedly distributing machetes and later taken to the Abidjan penitentiary where he remained until the end of April. Camara was arrested in mid-December and released at the same time as Coulibaly.

    Several RDR members were arrested after clashes on 4-5 December between demonstrators and security forces over the exclusion of RDR leader Alassane Dramane Ouattara from the 10 December legislative elections.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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