Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has filed for divorce from his estranged wife Simone Gbagbo.
Mr. Gbagbo filed his application on Monday with a matrimonial court judge of the Court of First Instance of Abidjan, a statement from his lawyer revealed.
The brief statement issued by the former president’s long-time lawyer, Claude Mentenon, said Gbagbo took the decision to go to court as a last resort, after Simone’s “repeated refusal” to consent to his request for a mutually agreed separation agreement.
Gbagbo’s application comes three days after he returned to the country following his acquittal and after nearly a decade since he was transferred to The Hague in The Netherlands where he went on trial for war crimes in relation to the 2010 post-election violence that led to the deaths of over 3,000 people.
The former President returned to Abidjan on June 17.
Gbagbo was indicted alongside Simone and a former youth minister, Charles Ble Goude.
