Former Ivory Coast political leader Charles Ble Goude said Monday he had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years in
prison by an Ivorian court over murder, rape and torture charges.
Ble Goude was cleared of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Hague this year, along with his former boss, Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.
The former aide to Gbagbo, who has remained in the Netherlands following his ICC trial pending a possible appeal by the prosecution, told AFP the Ivorian court had convicted him on Monday.