Last updated on December 29th, 2022 at 04:06 pm
In retaliation for the jihadist attack that took place in the tourist town of Grand Bassam in March 2016, an Ivorian court has handed life sentences to a total of 11 of the accused. Seven of the eleven defendants, who were all citizens of Madagascar, did not show up to court to hear the judgment.
The assault was responsible for the deaths of 19, including Europeans. The attorney for the defense, Eric Saki, expressed disappointment over the judgment but emphasized that the conflict is not yet resolved. “But I am unhappy, sad for these four people who, in my opinion, should have also benefited from an acquittal result. I am sad for them. However, we still have a ways to go.” “The decision was handed down by the court earlier today; tomorrow, as I stated when I appeared before the court, we will conduct an investigation and present our findings to the President of the Bar Association; then, the court will decide what the next step will be,” he said.
Hantao Ag Mohamed Cissé, Sidi Mohamed Kounta, Mohamed Cissé, and Hassan Barry were the four defendants who appeared in court and were accused of being complicit in the attack by providing assistance to individuals who were believed to be the plotters of the attack. The defendants all refuted the charges against them.
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The incident has hurt the country’s tourism industry, which was already struggling because of the violence after the 2010 and 2011 elections, in which about 3,000 people died.
Some people believe it’s time to move on to the next chapter. “It is to our advantage that we have concluded our investigation into this matter. Therefore, I believe that arriving at a conclusion is a positive thing. “It is equally essential, if not more important, for me personally, and at the same time it is vital for the families,” a witness who is also the manager of a hotel named Patrick Collin stated.
Kounta Dallah, who was referred to as the mastermind of the attack in Grand Bassam, was the subject of an international arrest order that was issued by a court in Ivory Coast. On March 13, 2016, three teenage assailants carried out an assault on the beach at Grand Bassam, which is particularly famous with tourists from other countries. They assaulted various restaurants and fired shots at customers who were sitting on the terrace before they were killed by Ivorian security forces.
The incident, which was the first of its kind to take place in Ivory Coast, was carried out by AQMI, a branch of Al-Qaeda that operates in the Islamic Maghreb. Four French people, nine Ivorians, a Lebanese person, a German person, a Macedonian person, a Malian person, a Nigerian person, and another person who has not been named were all killed. Thirty-three more people, from many different countries, were hurt because of the incident.
