Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo will get legal aid while his financial status is assessed, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Saturday.

His defence costs to date will be covered by the ICC's legal aid, said a statement from the court's clerk, after his defence team said they had no resources with which to conduct his defence. During a hearing on December 14, lawyer Emmanuel Altit, for Gbagbo, told the court that they did not have the means to do their job.

"The defence does not yet have the means to be effective," said Emmanuel Altit, whose client was not required to be in in the dock. "We have not yet been able to start our investigations because of the absence of legal aid," he added, referring to financial assistance given to suspects the Hague-based court considered indigent, or without means.

"At the moment, we have no office, no computer, no access to the court's computer network and no means," Altit added.

Temporal aid
The financial aid granted by the court will however only cover the preliminary stages of the case pending an investigation into Gbagbo's financial status, after which it would be reassessed, the clerk's statement said.
Gbagbo, 66, became the first former head of state to be surrendered to the ICC last November when he was transferred there by plane from northern Ivory Coast, where he had been under house arrest since April.

He faces four counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in crimes committed during five months of post-presidential election violence after disputed November 2010 polls. His refusal to hand over the reins to his long-time opponent and now President Alassane Ouattara plunged the world's top cocoa-grower into a deadly crisis which the United Nations said claimed around 3,000 lives.

(Source:AFP)