The International Criminal Court ordered former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and his co-defendant Charles Blé Goudé "to be released to a state willing to accept them on its territories" on Friday, according to Reuters.
Presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji ordered Gbagbo and Goudé to be released after the two were acquitted of atrocities earlier this month.
But the men were kept in detention pending objections on prosecutors, who said they planned to appeal the acquittal and wanted guarantees the two men would return to the court later if required.
The panel said it would publish more details on the conditions imposed on the two later on Friday.
It said they were needed to “protect the integrity of the process” and directed the court’s registry to “identify and enter into arrangements with States willing to accept Mr. Gbagbo and/or Mr. Blé Goudé on their territories and enforce the conditions."
Gbagbo’s lawyer, Geert-Jan Knoops, said the court still needed to arrange the timing of the men's release, but it would likely be within hours.
“After two weeks waiting in jail, it’s quite a relief,” Knoops said. “Somebody who’s acquitted should not be detained.”
The lawyer said he was unsure if the former president would return to the Ivory Coast since the conditions of his release were still undefined.
Gbagbo’s family previously said he would like to return to his home country, but he may first travel to Belgium to visit relatives.
But that return is complicated since he was already ordered to serve a 20-year prison sentence there for embezzlement during a trial in absentia in January 2018.
Gbagbo has already spent seven years in custody in The Hague.
He was president in the Ivory Coast from 2000 through 2011
ICC judges said the prosecution's case linking Gbagbo to election-related violence in 2010 and 2011 was "exceptionally weak."
It also said the acquittals were unlikely to be overturned.
But the appeals chamber did say it was willing to hear the prosecution's arguments how Gbagbo may not return for future court hearings if he was released.
The acquittal and release was criticized by groups representing the more than 3,000 people who died during the post-election violence that occurred when Gbagbo refused to concede to his rival, Alassane Outtara.
It's uncertain how the Ivory Coast would react to Gbagbo's return.
"For the moment, we are savoring the ICC's decision to acquit President Gbagbo. We are waiting for his return for a true reconciliation in Ivory Coast. It was the missing link," said Assoa Adou, secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front, the party founded by Gbagbo, after his acquittal on Jan. 15.
But some have already discussed rumors of his possible return to politics with a presidential run in 2020.
"When the time comes if (Laurent Gbagbo) returns to Ivory Coast, justice will advise," Justice Minister Sansan Kambile said this month.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody