The Hague, Jan 15 (IANS): The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday absolved former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and an ex-minister of crimes against humanity charges and ordered their immediate release.

Gbagbo has been held in custody at The Hague since 2011 along with his former youth minister Charles Blé Goudé, accused by prosecutors of four counts of crimes against humanity, including rape and murder, allegedly carried out in the tumultuous aftermath of the 2010 elections in the Ivory Coast.

At least 3,000 people had died in the unrest and 500,000 were displaced.

Gbagbo was the first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

ICC judges on Tuesday ruled that he had no case to answer because the prosecution had not managed to prove several charges against him. They ordered his immediate release.

Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser said the prosecution had "failed to demonstrate that public speeches by Gbagbo constituted ordering or inducing the alleged crimes".

Gbagbo was President of the West African nation from 2000 until his arrest in 2011.

The violence in 2010 in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, came after Gbagbo refused to accept that he lost a disputed election run-off to his rival, Alassane Ouattara.