At least 11 leading members of the Republican Rally party - including the deputy leader, Henriette Diabate, and four members of parliament - were sentenced to two years in prison, after being accused of of public order offences committed by their supporters.

Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara: I am very sad at the verdict

Mr Ouattara told the BBC that his party would appeal against the verdict, which he said was designed to stifle the opposition and prevent a democratic change of power.

"I am very sad ... This is clearly a denial of the rule of law ... and a political decision," Mr Ouattara said speaking by telephone from France.

Security was tight around the commercial capital, Abidjan, during the trial which ended this morning, amid fears of opposition protests.

Bias claim

The opposition demonstration last month, which was accompanied by violent unrest, was called to protest about bias in the state-controlled media against Mr Ouattara.

Alassane Ouattara: Much of his party's leadership is now in jail

The government argues that Mr Ouattara is ineligible to stand in next year's presidential elections on the grounds that he is not Ivorian, and has accused him of falsifying his Ivorian identity.

Mr Ouattara, a former prime minister of Ivory Coast and a wealthy international banker, insists he is an Ivorian citizen and denies he falsified his papers.

He told the BBC that he now planned to go back to the Ivory Coast next week, earlier than planned because of the crisis.

And when asked if he thought it was dangerous he said that there were no charges against him.

"We feel that our country needs democracy and if I have to pay a price for that then that is life."

Political trial

Our West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle says the trial was essentially a political one, and government and the opposition remain far apart over the issue which led to the police crackdown on the opposition in the first place.

The BBC's Fummi Kuo outlines the background to the trial

The US state department called the trial an attempt to stifle democracy in Ivory Coast.