On Wednesday, prosecutors in the Ivory Coast announced the start of a rape investigation against Kouadio Konan Bertin, a well-known politician who also ran for the presidency last year.
The current national minister for reconciliation has been accused of rape by a young woman.
“A police report was submitted by the young woman. There is a (judicial) probe underway “Bertin had filed a libel complaint against her, according to the prosecutor’s office.
In an audio clip leaked on the internet on Monday, an Ivorian-Cameroonian musician who claimed to have worked with Bertin claims she was forcibly driven to a town 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Abidjan, Divo, where she was raped in April.
Bertin, 52, was the only presidential candidate in last October’s elections against incumbent Alassane Ouattara, identified by his initials KKB. Other candidates avoided the election, claiming that Ouattara’s candidacy for a third term violated the constitution.
Despite earning only 1.99 percent of the vote, Bertin was named minister of national reconciliation two months later, tasked with healing the country’s disastrous political split.