Ivory Coast jails ex-first lady for 20 years over poll violence

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A court in Ivory Coast sentenced former first lady Simone Gbagbo on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for her role in a 2011 post-election crisis in which around 3,000 people were killed, her lawyer said.

Gbagbo, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court, was tried alongside 82 other allies of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo in a case that reopened divisions in a nation still recovering from years of political turmoil and conflict.

General Bruno Dogbo Ble, who headed the elite republican guard, and former navy chief Admiral Vagba Faussignaux were both jailed for 20 years, according to their lawyer, while others including the ex-president's son got shorter sentences.

Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to acknowledge his defeat by Alassane Ouattara in elections in 2010 sparked a brief civil war, claimed the trial was politically motivated.

"The jury members retained all the charges against her, including disturbing the peace, forming and organising armed gangs and undermining state security. It's a shame," said Simone Gbagbo's lawyer Rodrigue Dadje.

The sentence handed down to the former first lady by the six-member jury was longer than the 10 years requested by the state prosecutor. Her civil rights will also be suspended for 10 years, Dadje said.

Laurent Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the ICC accused of crimes against humanity. Ivory Coast refused to transfer Simone Gbagbo to The Hague to face similar charges, arguing that she could receive a fair trial in a domestic court.

The trial verdicts were announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning after around nine hours of deliberations by the jury, with the former president's son, Michel Gbagbo, also convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, Dadje said.

"PREPARED TO FORGIVE"

Pascal Affi N'Guessan, president of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party and seen as a potential candidate to challenge President Ouattara in elections this year, was handed an 18-month sentence.

He was credited with time served and released, as were nine former government ministers and four journalists who had been among dozens of Gbagbo's allies arrested following the violence in 2011.

As the trial drew to a close on Monday, Simone Gbagbo said prosecutors had insulted and humiliated her while failing to prove her guilt.

"I'm prepared to forgive. I forgive because, if we don't forgive, this country will burn," she said. "I am satisfied with this trial. I told my part of the truth."

Though praised for his stewardship of Ivory Coast's post-war recovery, President Ouattara has been accused by human rights groups of pursuing one-sided justice against his former rivals while ignoring abuses committed by his own supporters.

In the commercial capital Abidjan, reaction was divided.

"They should have freed them and given reconciliation a boost," said Salif Bakayoko, a marketing agent, outside a newspaper kiosk.

But others welcomed the verdict as a sign there would be no impunity for the acts that plunged the country into turmoil.

"Everyone responsible for what happened in 2011 must pay," said Gilbert Kouakou, an auditor.