Burkina Faso military tribunal probes people linked to coup
General Gilbert Diendere (R) welcomes Senegal President Macky Sall and ECOWAS chairman (L) on his arrival for talks in Ouagadougou on September 18, 2015. The leaders of Burkina Faso’s coup were due to hold mediation talks with two African heads of state Friday, as they freed the ousted interim president and reopened the landlocked country’s borders. The west African nation was preparing to hold its first democratic election in decades before a military coup on September 17, 2015 led by allies of the former president throwing the nascent democracy into turmoil. PHOTO |NMG
What you need to know:
A statement from the attorney general office on Saturday, delegated the responsibility of the trial to military justice.
A military tribunal in Burkina Faso has begun investigating eight persons in connection with the September 17, 2015 aborted coup, sources said Sunday.
A statement from the attorney general office on Saturday, delegated the responsibility of the trial to military justice.
The military tribunal is headed by Colonel Sita Sangaré, chairman of the country’s football association. He was appointed on September 25, 2015.
Sita Sangare takes over from Colonel Sidi Paré, formerly Minister in charge of Security and himself implicated in the aborted coup.
For now all of those being cross examined are military or former military officers who were arrested following the re installation of interim President Michel Kafando in his function.
Besides the ring leader Gen. Gilbert Diendéré and former foreign affairs minister Gen. Djibril Bassolé, is Captain Abdoulaye Dao, of the disbanded Presidential Security Regiment (RSP).
Captain Dao was the former head of personal security of the interim President Michel Kafando.
Others include, Oussène Zoumbri , RSP company commander, Colonel Boureima Kere ,Chief of staff and aide de camp to Michel Kafando.
Added to these are Colonel and medical doctor Mamadou Bamba who read the statements of the failed coup government and Colonel Abdoul Karim Traoré, former military tribunal magistrate and former advisor to Gen. Bassolé.
The latest to be arrested and heard is Commander Azize Korogo, also of the RSP.
After the failed coup of 17 October, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Ouagadougou, Poda Laurent had announced the opening of a judicial inquiry.
He also ordered the properties and financial assets of the coupists and their associates to be frozen before the gendarmerie began arresting the concerned.
If found guilty, sources said the accused could face life imprisonment since the interim government had scrapped capital punishment in the country early this year.(NMG)
