ABIDJAN: Ghana President John Dramani Mahama arrived on Wednesday in Ivory Coast for talks with counterpart Alassane Ouattara likely to include Abidjan?s request to extradite an ally of ex-Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo.
The Ivory Coast visit came as Justin Kone Katinan, the spokesman for Ouattara?s arch-enemy Gbagbo, appeared in court in the Ghanaian capital and was remanded in custody to face an extradition hearing.
Ouattara?s government has been accused of a crack-down on opponents including Katinan, one of three Gbagbo loyalists detained in recent weeks after speaking out against the government, which has in turn accused the former president?s supporters of backing a series of attacks on the army.
Ghana?s High Court on Wednesday declined to release Katinan, ruling that he had to face an extradition hearing, which the prosecution said should begin Thursday in a magistrate?s court.
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?The applicant has been arrested on formal charges as presented by the respondent affidavit,? Judge Kofi Essel Mensah said in the ruling over the arrest of Justin Kone Katinan.
?Although the lawyer for the applicant has made brilliant arguments against the charges, I?m not supposed to preempt the hearing on the extradition. I therefore terminate the application for his release.?
Katinan was arrested in Accra on August 24 under an Ivory Coast warrant for alleged economic crimes as budget minister during the crisis that followed Gbagbo?s refusal to cede power to Ouattara in December 2010.
Katinan, dressed in a black suit and white shirt, shook his head in disagreement with the ruling before being escorted outside and into a waiting vehicle by security agents.
Asked outside the court by a journalist how he was doing, he simply replied, ?I?m OK.?
Defence lawyer Patrick Sogbodjor has argued that Katinan cannot be extradited because he has refugee status. He told reporters after the ruling that ?we are still of the conviction that my client is being unlawfully detained?.
Katinan was among thousands of Gbagbo loyalists who fled to Ghana after the post-election conflict from December 2010 to April 2011, in which some 3,000 people were killed.
The spokesman was one of the three key Gbagbo allies recently detained following a series of attacks on the army and police near Ivory Coast?s economic capital, Abidjan, and on the Liberian border.
Ouattara?s government has accused Gbagbo supporters, including Ghana-based exiles, of backing the attacks, a charge vehemently denied by the former president?s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party.
On Friday in Ivory Coast, Laurent Akoun, a was jailed for six months for disturbing public order.
Supporters of Akoun, the FPI?s number two official, denounced the verdict against him as politically motivated.
Another close Gbagbo official, former minister Alphonse Douati, was arrested on August 18 and later charged with ?violating state security?.
Gbagbo himself was captured on April 11, 2011, and since November has been in custody at The Hague awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
Mahama?s office said the Ivory Coast trip was to thank regional leaders for their support following the death on July 24 of his predecessor, John Atta Mills. The president is also scheduled to travel to Burkina Faso on this trip and Benin, Nigeria and Togo later in the week.
Mahama, 53, was vice president when his predecessor died on July 24. A new presidential election is due in December.
His office said in a statement that he would use his trip to ?thank the heads of state and people of the two countries for their support during the funeral of the late president?.
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