Ivory Coast First Lady, Simone Gbagbo sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for post election violence

Former Ivorian First Lady Mrs c has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by an Ivorian court for organizing post election violence after her husband, Laurent Gbagbo lost out in the 2010 Presidential elections in Ivory Coast.

In a unanimous judgement today March 10th, the court said Mrs Gbagbo together with her husband's supporters, after rejecting the results from the elections that saw her husband's main rival, Alassane Ouattara declared winner of the election, carried out activities that undermined the state security which left over 3000 people dead.

Her husband, former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, is awaiting trial at the ICC

Laurent Gbagbo's son from a previous marriage, Michel Gbagbo, was also sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for his role in the post election violence. Lawyers to Mrs Gbagbo say they would be appealing the judgement.

Ivory Coast's former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for her role in the violence that followed the 2010 elections.

Gbagbo, 65, had been charged with undermining state security.

Her husband, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.

More than 3,000 people died in the violence that followed the presidential poll after the ex-leader refused to accept defeat to Alassane Ouattara.

She and her husband were arrested in 2011 after troops stormed a bunker where the pair had taken refuge in the main city, Abidjan.

And it was in the same city where Gbagbo - once called the "Iron Lady" - faced trial. She was also accused of disturbing public order and organising armed gangs.

The court unanimously sentenced her to 20 years, twice as long as the prosecutors had asked for.

Her daughter, Marie Antoinette Singleton, told the BBC the sentence was unfair and a sign of "political justice".

"Why would you want to double it? It's not about justice, it's about getting rid of political adversaries."

"If we say that something wrong happened, it happened on both sides. Nobody looked into bringing all responsible parties to trial," she said.

Simone Gbagbo's lawyer said they would appeal.

Laurent Gbagbo, is facing four charges at the ICC in The Hague, including murder, rape and persecution.

The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Simone Gbagbo too, but this was dismissed by the Ivorian government.

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