I Coast's ex-first lady on trial for crimes against humanity

Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo goes on trial today for crimes against humanity, but rights groups acting as plaintiffs in the case have pulled out, blasting the proceedings as flawed.
The wife of ex president Laurent Gbagbo has already been handed a 20-year jail sentence for "attacking state authority" over her role in post-election violence in 2010 that left more than 3,000 people dead.
Accused of involvement in rights abuses against supporters of her husband's rival Alassane Ouattara to keep Gbagbo in the presidency, she faces allegations of crimes against prisoners of war, crimes against the civilian population and crimes against humanity.

But yesterday three rights groups, representing nearly 250 victims, said they would refuse to take part in the trial of the woman once known as the "Iron Lady" because of doubts over its "credibility".
"Our lawyers have not had access to all stages of the procedures -- how can they defend their case?" the head of one of the groups, the Ivorian League of Human Rights, told AFP.
Pierre Kouame Adjoumani said the trial lacked "relevance", adding that Simone Gbagbo "is accused of crimes against humanity, something she could have only done through an organised group -- so why is only she being judged?"

The trial is taking place in Ivory Coast's commercial hub Abidjan, where the 66-year-old former first lady is being held.

It opens just five days after the Supreme Court rejected her final appeal against the 20-year sentence she was handed last year in her first trial.
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, suffered months of bloodshed after Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters refused to accept defeat to Ouattara in a 2010 election.
The violence was ultimately halted by an international military intervention under a UN mandate, led by former colonial power France, and the Gbagbos were arrested in April 2011.

Ouattara won a second presidential term in October in the nation's first peaceful vote for more than a decade.
Laurent Gbagbo is currently on trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.