Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has returned home, 10 years after he was taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.
Gbagbo has been living in the Belgian capital Brussels since his release from detention three years ago when his successor and rival President Alassane Ouattara invited him back.
He was the first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC but was acquitted of all charges.
The 76-year-old was charged after his refusal to accept defeat in a 2010 election triggered a civil war that left 3,000 people dead. He always denied all the allegations.
In March, the ICC appeals court upheld a 2019 acquittal, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case against Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé, an ally and former youth leader who was accused of leading a militia backing him.
Born in the south-central region of Gagnoa in 1945 to a Catholic family, Mr Gbagbo was educated in a Christian seminary and later became a history professor.
He started out on the political left, but in the 1980s took a strong nationalist, stance, which critics say bordered on xenophobia.
After 20 years in opposition, he was finally elected president in 2000, but civil war broke out just two years later.
Gbagbo’s supporters were accused of carrying out xenophobic attacks in areas they controlled – against those from the mainly Muslim north, immigrants from neighbouring African countries, and Westerners.
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