ICC acquits former I Coast strongman

The International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo over a wave of post-electoral violence, in a stunning blow to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Judges ordered the immediate release of the 73-year-old deposed strongman, the first head of state to stand trial at the troubled ICC, and his former youth leader Charles Ble Goude, 47.