a minister accused of rape in Ivory Coast

Ivorian justice has opened an investigation after accusations of rape brought by a young woman against the Minister of Reconciliation Kouadio Konan Bertin who assures that he has “nothing to be ashamed of”, we learned from the prosecution on Wednesday. “The young girl complained to the gendarmerie. A (judicial) information is in progress ”, explained the services of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The latter specified that the minister had also lodged a defamation complaint against the young woman. “The two cases are treated at the same time,” continued the prosecution. Monday, in an audio document broadcast on the Internet, an Ivorian-Cameroonian artist, who claims to have been a collaborator of Mr. Bertin, accused him of having raped her last April, in Divo (200 km west of ‘Abidjan), where she says she was forcibly taken.

Two months after a charge against a TV show

Asked Tuesday evening on the subject, on national television RTI, the minister assured to have “nothing to be ashamed of”. “It is a criminal case which is in the hands of justice,” he added. On Wednesday, the Ivorian League for Women’s Rights “asked the judicial authorities to investigate this case so that the light is shed”, in a statement. She specifies that she “will accompany” the complainant in the procedure.

Kouadio Konan Bertin, known as “KKB”, was Alassane Ouattara’s only opponent in the October 2020 presidential election, in which he won 1.99% of the vote. He was appointed Minister of National Reconciliation two months later. These accusations come a few weeks after the wave of indignation that had rocked the country, caused by the broadcast of a television program accused of having defended rape.

The host Yves de M’Bella had invited in his program on the New Ivorian channel (NCI, private) supposed to denounce the rape, a former rapist to whom he had asked to explain how he went about abusing his victims , with the help of a model in front of a mocking audience. This program immediately aroused the indignation of personalities, anonymous and rape victims who demanded sanctions against the host and his channel. Yves de M’Bella had been sentenced in the wake of a 12-month suspended prison sentence for “apologizing for rape” and “indecent exposure” while his guest had been sentenced to two years in prison.