AMSTERDAM — Hearings for former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, who was due to appear before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, have been postponed yet again, pending a decision on whether he is well enough, the court said Friday. Gbagbo, 67, was due to appear before the court on Aug. 13 to hear the charges against him and give his response. A new date for the hearing has not been set. The hearing in The Hague had already been postponed from June when Gbagbo's lawyers said he needed more time to prepare his defense and to recover from the ill-treatment he received while in detention in Ivory Coast, before he was handed over to the ICC in November 2011. “The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court postponed the confirmation of charges hearing in the case against Laurent Gbagbo until the issue of Mr. Gbagbo's fitness to take part in it is resolved,” the court said in a statement. Prosecutors accuse Gbagbo of crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution, rape and other sexual violence, committed during a four-month civil war in Ivory Coast in which about 3,000 people died and a million were displaced. — Reuters
