A/HRC/32/52 proceedings. Out of 67 ongoing cases, 25 have already been tried, 25 are awaiting trial, and 17 are at the preliminary investigation stage. Judges with the Special Investigation Unit make use of data collected by the National Commission of Inquiry. While the prosecutions under way at this time relate to FRCI members, most of the defendants are currently at liberty because the investigating judges are confident that they will appear before the courts when summoned. Moreover, they cannot leave the country without judicial authorization. 49. The second trial of Simone Gbagbo opened at the assize court for the Court of First Instance of Abidjan on 31 May 2016. The defendant is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the electoral crisis of 2010-2011. The Government of Côte d’Ivoire decided not to transfer Ms. Gbagbo to the International Criminal Court, as it considered that the national justice system was capable of adjudicating the case. On 30 May 2016, the eve of the trial, the International Federation for Human Rights Leagues and two of its member organizations, the Ligue ivoirienne des droits de l’homme (Ivorian League for Human Rights) and the Mouvement ivoirien des droits de l’ homme (Ivorian Movement for Human Rights), published an open letter expressing their disagreement with the prosecution’s strategy. In their view, the prosecution of Ms. Gbagbo as a sole defendant would not capture the wider picture of the wrongdoing that had been committed, nor would it permit the criminal responsibility borne by each person involved in that wrongdoing to be clearly established, since the acts attributed to Ms. Gbagbo were closely linked to those committed by other persons allegedly responsible for acts of violence during the post-electoral crisis. 50. The NGOs also stated that they would stay away from the trial because the lawyers for the civil parties had not been involved in the pretrial proceedings. Yet those same NGOs continued to support Ms. Gbagbo’s trial under the Ivorian justice system, which they regarded as the rightful jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Ivorian authorities placed special emphasis on the exclusive discretionary power of prosecutors to choose a prosecution strategy and to decide whether or not to join or sever cases concerning related acts. 51. The Independent Expert considers that it was entirely legitimate for the human rights NGOs to express reservations about a process that they regarded as flawed and to use legal arguments to support their position. It is to be noted that they were free to do so, despite the obvious sensitivity of the case in question. The Independent Expert also believes that the trial of Ms. Gbagbo will have a significant impact on the national reconciliation process, and he therefore urges the Ivorian authorities to ensure that it is conducted in a manner that fully upholds the guarantees of a fair trial at all stages of the proceedings. Such guarantees should be extended to the defendant as well as to the civil parties. 52. The trial of the officers accused of participating in the 2002 assassination of General Robert Guéï and his family members resumed on 25 January 2016. On 18 February 2016, the military court sentenced General Dogbo Blé, former head of the Republican Guard, Commander Anselme Seka Yapo, head of the close protection detail of the former First Lady (Ms. Gbagbo), and Sergeant Daleba Sery to life imprisonment. Another 10 of the accused were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, and the 13 remaining defendants were acquitted. 53. As regards other cases linked to the post-electoral crisis, the Human Rights Division of UNOCI was informed on 11 March 2016 of the provisional release of 10 “pro-Gbagbo” detainees previously extradited from Liberia. Six of them had been held at the Bouna Detention and Correctional Centre since 4 July 2012, while the other four had been held at the Katiola Detention and Correctional Centre on charges of endangering the security of the State. These persons were granted a presidential pardon under the decrees of 23 December 2015. On 22 March 2016, four individuals arrested for endangering the security of the State and held since 4 May 2012 at Séguéla Detention and Correctional Centre were also granted provisional release on the orders of the investigating judge of the Court of First Instance of GE.16-10958 13