No new trial for acquitted gendarmes

Eight gendarmes found innocent of mass killings during political upheavals in 2000 will not be prosecuted again if a call by government for fresh investigations leads to a new trial, the state-owned Fraternite Matin has reported state prosecutor Ange Kouame Kessi as saying. One of the gendarmes died this month.

Since no appeal was made against their acquittal by a military tribunal in July 2001, the verdict stands, Kessi said. However, they can be called as witnesses, Fraternite-Matin reported on Wednesday.

The eight had been tried inside the country's biggest military camp, located in Abidjan, following the discovery of 57 bodies in the Abidjan suburb of Yopougon on 27 October 2000 after three days of election-related violence.

At the closure of a national reconciliation forum held in October-December 2001, President Laurent Gbagbo said that he would order a new inquiry into the massacre because he was not satisfied with the findings. On 4 April 2002, the government directed the justice ministry to start a fresh investigation and demanded a new trial in a civilian court. Six judges have been commissioned to gather evidence for the trial.

The government has also instructed the justice ministry to expedite the trial of people suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow Gbagbo in January 2001.