Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo has been charged with murder, rape, persecution and inhuman acts by the International Criminal Court

The crimes were committed as his backers fought to keep him in power in 2010. Gbagbo is the first former head of state taken into custody by the court in The Hague, Netherlands, since it was established in 2002. A filing posted on the court's website says that he is charged with murder, rape, persecution and inhuman acts during violence which erupted after he refused to accept defeat in 2010's presidential election and nearly plunged the African country into civil war.