Damana Pickass, a high-ranking member of the party of the former Ivorian president and now an opponent of Laurent Gbagbo, was arrested on Tuesday near Abidjan, accused of having called for a “popular insurrection” before the presidential election on October 25, the prosecutor said on Wednesday. M. and Pickass is also the general coordinator of the “Common Front” which brings together the two main opposition parties in the country, Laurent Gbagbo’s PPA-CI and Tidjane Thiam’s PDCI. These two leaders had been ousted by the justice of the presidential election won with nearly 90% of the vote by the outgoing head of state Alassane Ouattara. “On Tuesday, he was processed by the National Police at Bingerville”. Pickass, a déclaré le procureur Oumar Braman Koné in a communiqué.. His arrest was confirmed to AFP by the party.. Before the presidential election, the Front Commun had called for several demonstrations to denounce the exclusion of its candidates, marches that had been banned by the government. A new march is also scheduled for Saturday. “Certain political actors, including Damana Adia Pickass, have called for a popular uprising and the overthrow of the institutions of the Republic”, continues the prosecutor Koné. “These calls (…) have led to the constitution of armed and unarmed groups” which have “occasionné acts of violence affecting national security”, it adds. The vote on 25 October was generally calm, but not without violence in this country where presidential elections are often synonymous with political tensions. In total, eleven people died in demonstrations before the elections or in intercommunal clashes on the day of the vote. L’opposition is calling for a balance of 27 dead. More than a hundred people have been sentenced to three years in prison for participating in these demonstrations, according to their lawyers. Damana Pickass, a long-time supporter of Laurent Gbagbo and a staunch supporter of his party, appeared for the last time on 16 October, in a 20-minute video calling for the Ivorians to demonstrate. “All Ivorians are invited to occupy the streets in a peaceful manner. I invite you to much more determination, to much more will, to much more commitment”, he had declared. At the end of September, during a summons to the tribunal, he had said that he had been “mis en garde” by the procureur that he would be arrested in case of trouble to public order. And at the beginning of the year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “atteinte à la sécurité de l’État”, concerning facts dating back to 2021. In the absence of a warrant of deposit, he has not been incarcerated, as it happens in Côte d’Ivoire, even for heavy sentences.
Ivory Coast: arrest of a right-hand man of Laurent Gbagbo by the police
