Delivered on Friday, March 27, the court ruling went against the prosecution’s request, which had called for a 36-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 CFA francs against the Ivorian opposition figure.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Abidjan court has cleared Calice Yapo. Prosecuted for publicly challenging the Constitutional Council’s decision to annul the election of a member of his party earlier this January, the Executive Secretary of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) was found not guilty of “disturbing public order” and “discrediting a judicial decision” on Friday, March 27.

Upon hearing the verdict, Yapo showed a rare display of emotion, raising his arms in front of the presiding judge.

He then left the courtroom accompanied by his wife and escorted by around thirty PDCI supporters. He barely stopped to speak to the press, only briefly stating: “I will not make any political comments; I simply bless the name of God.”

A few meters away, his lawyer, Maître Luc Kacou Adje, expressed satisfaction:
“This is a relief. At least the law has been upheld,” he said before adding:
“An offense requires facts, material elements, and intentional elements. However, the prosecutor failed to demonstrate these. While this was obvious to me, we were before a court of law, so we had to wait for the judicial truth, which has now confirmed the factual truth—namely, that no offense was committed.

By declaring Calice Yapo not guilty of the charges brought against him, the judges chose not to follow the prosecution, which had requested a 36-month suspended sentence and a fine of 500,000 CFA francs.

The PDCI’s number two figure had been prosecuted for contesting, in front of party supporters, the invalidation of the re-election of Hervé Alliali, a deputy from his party, in Toumodi, central Côte d’Ivoire, earlier this January.
“You cannot say that Alliali’s son cheated!” he had protested at the time, criticizing the Constitutional Council for its decision.

For now, the prosecution has not indicated whether it intends to appeal the ruling.