**For background information on the Zongo case, see IFEX alerts of 19 April 2000, 7 December 1999, 7 May 1999, 22 and 16 December 1998** (RSF/IFEX) – The following is a RSF press release: Paris, 16 August 2000 Burkina Faso Trial of five members of the presidential guard opens: A report on the hearings available […]
**For background information on the Zongo case, see IFEX alerts of 19 April 2000, 7 December 1999, 7 May 1999, 22 and 16 December 1998**
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a RSF press release:
Paris, 16 August 2000
Burkina Faso
Trial of five members of the presidential guard opens:
A report on the hearings available nightly on the RSF website
On Thursday 17 August 2000, the trial of five Burkinabe soldiers, all members of the presidential guard accused of having “tortured to death” David Ouédraogo, the driver of the president’s brother, will open in Ouagadougou. Marcel Kafando, Edmond Koama, Ousséni Yaro, Christophe Kombasséré and Marcel Kabré could face prison sentences of ten years to life. They will be judged by a military court.
Norbert Zongo, the editor in chief of “L’Indépendant”, was investigating this case at the time of his murder in December 1998. He had arrived at the conclusion that François Compaoré, the brother of the head of state was involved in the murder of his driver. Four of the five accused in the Ouédraogo case are also cited as “serious suspects” in the report of the Commission of Independent Inquiry into the death of journalist Norbert Zongo.
Starting Thursday, every evening around 6 p.m., the website of Reporters sans frontières (www.rsf.fr), in collaboration with the Burkina daily “24 Heures”, will offer a report on the day’s hearings.
