Simone Gbagbo

Ivory Coast's ex-first lady Simone Gbagbo in court debut

Ivory Coast's former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, has denied wrongdoing for her alleged role in the violence that followed the 2010 elections.

Ms Gbagbo was giving evidence for the first time at her trial in Abidjan.

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

He refused to accept defeat in the presidential elections, sparking months of violence that claimed more than 3,000 lives.

"I don't know exactly what the concrete actions are that I am being accused of," Mrs Gbagbo said at the hearing, according to the AFP news agency.

She also insisted her husband was the legitimate winner of the elections instead of his rival, Alassane Ouattara, who was declared the winner of the poll.

Police had to separate supporters and opponents of the Gbagbos as scuffles broke out outside the court.

Mrs Gbagbo and more than 80 supporters of her husband have been charged with undermining state security.

Both sides have been accused of atrocities in the bloody clashes that followed the disputed elections.

The Gbagbos were eventually arrested in a bunker in April 2011, five months after the elections, following a military assault supported by UN and French troops.

Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo on Monday questioned the charges against her as she appeared in court for the first time accused of undermining state security.

"I don't know exactly what the concrete actions are that I am being accused of," Gbagbo said, insisting also that her husband Laurent Gbagbo was the legitimate winner of a 2010 presidential election that sparked five months of violence that claimed some 3,000 lives.

"Laurent Gbagbo, my husband, was the winner of the 2010 presidential elections. I blamed France - the colonial power- of interfering in the Ivory Coast  post-electoral dispute. The French army air- bombed our presidential residence for ten days while no UN resolution gave France that power. It is to believe that the goal of France, was the physical elimination of the elected president Laurent Gbagbo."

Ahead of her appearance, police moved to separate supporters and opponents of the Gbagbos as scuffles broke out outside the courtroom.

"Simone Gbagbo did nothing!" exclaimed a nearby man who called himself "Ble Goude Junior", after the ex-leader of the extremist Young Patriot movement that long supported Gbagbo. "She was the first lady. She wasn't a soldier. She shouldn't be here."

For almost a month, a succession of politicians, journalists and other Gbagbo supporters have been questioned before the court, including a former prime minister and seven other ex-ministers, but no witnesses have been called to challenge their testimony.

When journalists were accused of incitement to hatred, no press articles, broadcast recordings or video items were brought forward to back the prosecution claims.

Like the defendants, the political opposition and representatives of civil society have denounced bias and "victor's justice" in the trial.

No one close to Ouattara has been investigated or prosecuted in connection with the violence that rocked the commercial capital for five months, but his supporters are widely believed to have committed atrocities.