Côte d’Ivoire: Trial of suspects of 2016 attack starts next week

Eighteen people arrested in connection with the 2016 attack in Grand-Bassam that caused the death of 19 people will stand trial next week on charges of ‘acts of terrorism in association with a collective organization’, reports say.

Three young assailants stormed Etoile du Sud hotel in the seaside resort, some 40 kilometers east of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital, Abidjan.

The assailants fired with Kalashnikovs at people before being shot dead by Ivorian security forces. Nineteen people, including four French citizens, died in the incident and dozens others were wounded.

The assault was the first of its kind in Côte d’Ivoire, and was believed to have been carried out in retaliation to anti-jihadist operations carried out by France and its allies in the Sahel region.

Judicial sources say the trial will likely run until 22 December.