13 face trial for Ivory Coast plot

A court will hear a case against the former military leader of Ivory Coast's northern rebels and 12 others suspected in connection with an alleged 2003 plot against President Laurent Gbagbo's government, judicial officials said Thursday.

Ibrahim Coulibaly and the 12 others have been charged with recruiting mercenaries, which under a 2003 French law is punishable by five years in prison and a $107,000 fine. No trial date was set.

A French court placed Coulibaly, a former army sergeant, under investigation in 2003 in connection with an alleged plot to kill Gbagbo as part of a coup d'etat. He spent three weeks in jail, but the court later dropped terrorism charges against him and 14 others, including suspected mercenaries.

An investigating judge continued to examine whether the suspects hired mercenaries to kill Gbagbo.

Coulibaly has always contested the allegations against him.

Two of the other suspects were cleared in the case, the judicial officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Coulibaly lives in the West African nation of Benin.