Defence lawyers for fallen Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo Monday accused his bitter rival President Alassane Ouattara of seizing power by force after 2010 elections in the west African nation.

"Ouattara and his supporters wanted to seize power by force and the battle of Abidjan was, simply put, the very implementation of this strategy," defence lawyer Emmanuel Altit told the International Criminal Court where Gbagbo is on trial for crimes against humanity arising out of five months of post-polls bloodshed.