Ivory Coast's feisty former first lady Simone Gbagbo went on trial Tuesday for crimes against humanity in what many see as a litmus case for justice in the west African country.

The hearings into the 66-year-old's role in post-election carnage in 2010 is expected to last a month with 32 witnesses testifying.

Security was tight with the entrance to the court sealed off and Kalashnikov-wielding officers guarding the complex as she was led in and seated in a red chair opposite the bench.

Nicknamed the "Iron Lady," Gbagbo is accused of planning and organising rights abuses against supporters of her husband's presidential rival in a bid to maintain Laurent Gbagbo in power at all costs.

He was finally defeated at the polls however and is currently also facing trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

More than 3,000 people died in the nation in bloody post-poll violence which petered out only after the arrest of the Gbagbo couple in 2011 when troops stormed the bunker where they had taken refuge in the nation's main city, Abidjan. 
Simone Gbagbo faces allegations of crimes against prisoners of war, crimes against the civilian population and crimes against humanity.

This is her second trial in Ivory Coast where she is being held behind bars in Abidjan after a 20-year conviction for "attacking state security".

Witnesses have accused her of personally distributing arms to death squads that operated in Abidjan during the five-month conflict but she has repeatedly denies this.

- 'Pivotal moment for justice ' -

Human Rights Watch said the trial "could be a pivotal moment for justice" in the world's top cocoa producer, a beacon of stability in restive west Africa until a 1999 coup that was shortly followed by years of low-level civil war.

The decade of strife and last wrenching months of violence between pro- and anti-Gbagbo supporters have left deep divisions and grievances that still need to be reconciled.

The trial opens just five days after the Supreme Court rejected her final appeal against the 20-year sentence she was handed last year.
"Simone Gbagbo’s trial – the first in Ivory Coast for crimes against humanity – should be an opportunity for victims of pro-Gbagbo forces to learn the truth about her alleged role in abuses," Jim Wormington, west Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch said. 

"But unless the trial is credible and fair, the hopes of victims will be short-lived."

One of her lawyers, Mathurin Dirabou, has described the charges against her as "fanciful".

"These accusations have been created to please certain parts of the international community. It's a pity. Enough is enough," he added.

The ICC in The Hague had issued a warrant for Simone Gbagbo's arrest, but Ivorian authorities refused to hand her over saying she would face a fair trial at home.

The decision was seen as a snub to the ICC, with President Alassane Ouattara saying he would "not send any more Ivorians" to The Hague as his country has an "operational justice system".

But Ouattara has faced accusations his government only intends to prosecute crimes by pro-Gbagbo forces in the 2010-2011 conflict, charges he rejects.

"For the trial to be meaningful to victims, it must be credible, fair, and followed by other trials that target high-level rights abusers from both sides of the 2010-2011 post-election crisis," Human Rights Watch said.

But on Monday, three rights groups representing nearly 250 victims of the violence, pulled out of the trial because of doubts over its "credibility".

"Our lawyers have not had access to all stages of the procedures -- how can they defend their case?" the head of one of the groups, the Ivorian League of Human Rights, told AFP.

Pierre Kouame Adjoumani said the trial lacked "relevance", adding that Simone Gbagbo "is accused of crimes against humanity, something she could have only done through an organised group -- so why is only she being judged?"

Source: AFP