Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has pardoned and ordered the release of 51 people convicted of treason and other state security charges. 
The beneficiaries of presidential clemency include military and civilian figures convicted of offences committed during the post-electoral crisis and for endangering state security.
Among those pardoned are General Dogbo Blé Brunot and Koné Kamaraté Souleymane. Souleymane was Guillaume Soro’s head of protocol when he served as Prime Minister and head of the National Assembly.
General Dogbo Bruno was the commander of the Republican Guard under former President Laurent Gbagbo.
Their pardon was announced by the National Security Council in a statement on Thursday.
President Alassane Ouattara told the National Security Council (CNS) of his decision for the men sentenced for offences committed “during post-electoral crises and against state security.
Allies and war comrades, Soro fell out with Ouattara in 2019. Soro, who was in 2020 sentenced in absentia to twenty years in prison for embezzlement of public funds and then to life imprisonment for “endangering state security,” has been living in exile since.
He denies the charges.
The statement said the pardon was part of the president’s “commitment to work resolutely to consolidate peace.”
Ouattara won the 2010 elections, defeating incumbent president Gbagbo, who was eventually forced from power after a brutal post-election conflict.
The West African country was plunged into violence after incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to Mr. Ouattara, whom the electoral body had declared the winner of a disputed run-off poll.
A report by Human Rights Watch said that during the crisis that lasted from November 2010 to April 2011, more than 3,000 people were killed and over 150 women were sexually abused.