Six officers charged with killings

Six officers have been charged with murder in connection with bodies found last October in the neighbourhood of Yopougon, northeast Abidjan, local media on Friday quoted state prosecutor Joachim Yua Koffi as saying.

The accused are gendarmes from the camp of Abobo, a low-income neighbourhood in northern Abidjan, where some of the victims were allegedly killed before being transported to Yopougon. All 57 victims were young men. Their bodies were found at the end of a week of violent clashes related to contested presidential elections held on 22 October.

However the six accused were not detained, a move which the Federation international des ligues de droits de l'homme and the Paris-based Reporters sans frontieres criticised on Friday.