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The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has acquitted former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
He had been charged with crimes against humanity in connection with the violence after disputed elections in 2010, which left 3,000 dead and 500,000 displaced.
Mr. Gbagbo was captured in 2011 in a presidential palace bunker by the UN and forces backed by France supporting his rival, Albadane Ouattara.
He was the first former head of state to be tried before the ICC.
What was Mr Gbagbo accused of?
Violence in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, took place after Gbagbo had refused to accept the fact that he had lost a second round of voting against Mr. Ouattara in 2010.
The five months of violence that followed were described as the most brutal confrontations ever observed in the country.
Bloody clashes and targeted badbadinations took place in Abidjan, in the south of the country, and several hundred of them were mbadacred in the town of Duékoué, in the west of the country.
Prosecutors said Mr. Gbagbo had clung to power "by all means" and had charged him with four counts of crimes against humanity, murder, rape and kidnapping. other forms of badual violence, persecution and "inhumane acts".
He denied the accusations, which he said had political motivation.
Victims of post-election violence in 2010 oppose release of Gbagbo
The ICC judges decided on Tuesday that he had no answer because the prosecution had failed to prove several charges against him. They ordered his immediate release.
Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said the prosecution had "failed to show that Gbagbo's public speeches were an order or an incitement to commit the alleged crimes."
Gbagbo's supporters shouted, applauded and threw their firsts into the stands after the announcement, BBC court spokeswoman Anna Holligan said.
Gbagbo's supporters rejoice
Yves Gragbayou, one of his supporters, came from Paris to court, told the AFP news agency: "I am very very happy.Finally, there is a little justice."
However, victims of violence oppose his release.
"If Laurent Gbagbo is released, we, the victims, will not see justice," said AFP Karim Coulibaly, shot and wounded and had his arm amputated.
"I was a driver, but now I am unemployed, I am not against reconciliation, but you have to take care of the victims first."
Is this a blow for the ICC?
"Whenever a case involving mbad atrocities collapses at the ICC level, it undermines the perception of the Court as a credible and effective institution of international justice", told BBC Anna Holligan Mark Kersten, author of Justice in Conflict.
"Many fear that the court will become an institution where only the rebels can be successfully prosecuted," he added.
The ICC has also seen cases collapse against former DR Congo vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, and former Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
On the other hand, the judgment demonstrates the independence and impartiality of the judges and makes it more difficult to put forward the narrative, popular among those who fear the long arm of the ICC, according to which the Court is a skewed weapon of neo-colonial justice used solely to condemn African leaders, our correspondent said.
Janet Anderson, a writer of the "Justice Tribune," told the BBC: "It is also important to find non-guilty people or to find that there is no reason to answer them." there is not one. "
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