Prosecution to appeal not guilty verdict in mass killing case

State prosecutor Ange Kessy said he would appeal to a civilian court on Wednesday the ruling of the military tribunal that found eight gendarmes not guilty of mass murder in post-electoral violence which marred Laurent Gbagbo’s election as president in October 2000, according to news reports.

Local and international media reported that the tribunal freed the men on Friday because of insufficient evidence of guilt. They were brought before the court accused of killing 57 youths found shot in a forest clearing in Yopougon, a suburb of Abidjan.

Kessy said he hoped witnesses would testify in the appeal, something they had failed to do out of fear during the five-day trial in a gendarmerie camp, according to news reports.
Several human rights organizations and investigation teams, including one from the United Nations, have concurred that the gendarmerie bears the greatest responsibility for the killings.