Trois-Rivires man deported to Ivory Coast for alleged war crimes

After years of delays, a Trois-Rivires mansuspected of war crimes was deported tohis native Ivory Coast at 10 o'clock Monday night, despite his family's insistence that he has done nothing wrong.

Abou Fofanahas lefthis Quebec-born wife and three young children behind in Trois-Rivires, 135kilometresnortheast of Montreal.

"It's definitely very difficult. The children don't understand," said his wife,Genevive Trottier, said in an interview prior to his deportation.

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Trottiersaid their children, a four-year-old and three-year-old twins, have beensuffering from stomach aches and hadbeen acting out in daycare.

"At first, we lied. We told them he was leaving on vacation to Africa," she said.

However, the children kept asking why he was choosing to leave.

"Finally, we opted for the truth."

Carpenter or war criminal?

When Fofana came to Canada in 2008 seeking asylum, he identified himself as an artist and dancer, officials from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said.

His application for refugee status was rejected three years later, IRCC concluding that"there are serious reasons to think, beyond a simple suspicion, that Fofana has committed a war crime as a member of the rebel group, the Force nouvelles."

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Fofanaacknowledgedhe worked for that groupas a carpenter in order to survive. He saidhe never tookpart in any military actions with the Force nouvelles, which is now in power in the country.

"They don't need to have proof to say he is a war criminal. There are no formal charges. They only suspect [it]," saidTrottier.

Fofana's subsequent application for permanent residency was also rejected in 2013. The Canadian government did not deport him at that time because it did not have the documents it needed from Ivory Coast.

But once the paperwork hadbeen processed, the government acted:Forfana has been flown out of the country, leaving Trottier to raise their children alone.

"We are totally devastated," Trottier said.

"The Canadian government is not going to help me more because they have taken my husband away."

She had beenhoping for a last-minute reprieveor an intervention from the immigration minister.