20101231
reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday she had written to Laurent Gbagbo and other senior Ivorian officials to make clear they could be held criminally accountable for human rights violations.

Navi Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge, also said that deteriorating security conditions in the West African country prevented investigations of atrocities, including at least two mass graves.

"The international criminal justice system that has developed over the past 15 or so years has given us a tool of accountability we did not have before," Pillay said.

"No longer can heads of state, and other actors, be sure that they can commit atrocious violations and get away with it."