GRAFT: Ex-Ivorian rebel leader bags 20-yr jail term, fined $7.4m

Guillaume Soro, the former rebel leader running for president in Ivory Coast, was convicted in absentia on Tuesday of embezzlement, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The former prime minister, who is in exile in France, and has denied the charges, claiming they are politically motivated was also fined the equivalent of $7.4m (£6m) and barred from civic duties for five years.

The trial was boycotted by Mr Soro’s lawyers who said the allegations against him were political and aimed at excluding him from this year’s presidential poll.

Mr Soro, who lives in Paris, was accused of using public money to buy a house in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

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The former rebel leader whose property has been confiscated by the court was also accused of plotting a coup against President Alassane Ouattara who is due to leave office this year.

Government lawyer Ben Meite Abdoulaye dismissed suggestions the verdict was political, calling it a “thunderbolt in the sky of Ivorian corruption”.

“This decision is the start of a new era in Ivory Coast. We must hunt down corruption wherever it is found,” he said.

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