Gbagbo ally fears torture, killing in home country

By Stephen Kwabena Effah

     June 13, 2013

The former Ivorian Budget Minister, Justin Katinan Koné, has told a Magistrate’s Court in Accra that he would be killed if extradited to Ivory Coast where he is wanted for prosecution over an alleged robbery.

Although, he said he was ready to defend himself on the charges of conspiracy and robbery in his home country, he claimed, “they will torture me and eventually kill me”.

Mr. Koné, who is also the spokesman for former Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, and has been in Ghana as a refugee since April 2011, is facing extradition proceedings in Accra following a warrant issued by the Ivorian Government.

He has since his arrest on August 24, 2012 by Ghana’s security agencies, been fighting his extradition before the Magistrate’s Court presided over by Mr. Aboagye Tandoh.

To avoid extradition, Mr. Kone is expected to lead evidence to establish that there is no extradition treaty between Ghana and Ivory Coast, as well as evidence that the charges on which he is being sought for is politically motivated.

Continuing his evidence yesterday, Mr. Koné told the court that in the heat of the 2010 Ivorian crisis, some of the rebels from the north of the country where he comes from, called him on phone while in Abidjan, to inform him to flee the country.

He said the rebels claimed that an order had been given for him (Koné) and the late Chief of Staff and a former Interior Minister under the Laurent Gbagbo administration,  Désiré Tagro, to be killed.

“I didn’t believe in that at first but the day that they arrested President Gbagbo, they shot and killed him (Désiré Tagro). From then, I didn’t need any evidence again that I was next,” he told the court to buttress his claim.

Per extradition documents issued by the Ivorian authorities to their Ghanaian counterpart, Mr. Koné, is said to have conspired with some people and led troops to rob banks in Abidjan on April 19 and April 20, 2011.

Mr. Koné, according to the documents, robbed some tanks of about 38 billion CFA.

He, however, denied the charges and described the attempts to have him extradited to Ivory Coast as politically motivated when he mounted the witness box on June 11, 2013 to lead evidence to buttress his claim.

Concluding his evidence at yesterday’s sitting, he told the court that the highest currency denomination in Ivory Coast was 10,000 CFA, which meant that he needed 15 forty-foot containers to carry the 38 billion CFA he was alleged to have robbed.

He said it was clearly not possible for him to have taken those trucks to rob that amount without anybody noticing it, saying “My Lord, it is not possible”.

State Prosecutors led by Chief State Attorney, Mathew Amponsah, are expected to cross-examine him on his evidence on June 19.

Mr. Kone has since September 25, 2012 been on a GH¢50, 000 bail with two sureties. He was re-arrested on September 28, 2012 on a fresh warrant issued by the Ivorian authorities and put before the Accra Community Magistrate’s Court on October 1, 2012 on murder charges but the court on October 24, 2012 discharged.

This was after prosecutors failed to give legal grounds for charging Katinan under Ghanaian laws when the alleged murder was committed outside Ghana.

The court held that INTERPOL Abidjan can at best request for the extradition of Katinan to face trial in Ivory Coast, noting that “that (extradition proceedings) is not before me.”