Burkina Faso

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced stupefaction at the two-month suspended prison sentences and fines of 300,000 CFA francs (450 euros) which a court in Ouagadougou on 22 January 2007 passed on Germain Bitiou Nama, the publisher of the privately-owned fortnightly L’”Evénement”, and Newton Ahmed Barry, its editor, for linking the president’s brother, François […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced its support for the Ouagadougou-based bi-monthly “L’Evénement”, which is accused of libelling the president’s brother, François Compaoré, by linking him to the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. The trial is due to start on 8 January 2007 in Ouagadougou. “After last year’s outrageous decision to dismiss all […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has said it was stunned by the Burkina Faso public prosecutor’s refusal to reopen the investigation into the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo and three companions on the grounds that the document the organisation gave him on 20 October 2006 did not constitute new evidence as defined by article […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has asked the Burkina Faso state prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo and three other persons, after providing him with new evidence implicating the president’s brother, François Compaoré, and businessman Oumarou Kanazoé. As a member of the Independent Commission of Enquiry that was set up […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 16 August 2006, the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal upheld an investigating judge’s decision to dismiss all charges against Marcel Kafondo and “X” (meaning “other undetermined persons”) in the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. A judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the appeal court refused to consider the Zongo family’s appeal […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has pledged to continue campaigning for justice in the 1998 murder of leading independent journalist Norbert Zongo after learning that the judge in charge of the investigation, Wenceslas Ilboudo, has dismissed the case against the only person ever charged. “This is an outright scandal, a disgrace,” the press freedom organisation […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 12 December 2005 ARTICLE 19 letter to Burkina Faso Prime Minister Blaise Compaore: Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso 12 December 2005 Dear Mr. President, ARTICLE 19 would first like to congratulate you on your reelection to the Burkina Faso presidency on 13 November 2005. Reaffirmed by the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Six years have passed since newspaper editor Norbert Zongo and three of his companions were found dead in their car on a southern Burkina Faso road, on 13 December 1998. The investigation remains stalled and one of the leading suspects in the case, François Compaoré, President Blaise Compaoré’s brother, has never been detained […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on the Burkina Faso police to announce the charges against Mathieu N’Do, managing editor of the weekly “San Finna” and one of the leaders of the opposition party National Union for Democracy and Development (Union nationale pour la démocratie et le développement, UNDD). N’Do has been held incommunicado at a […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 8 November 2004 CPJ press release: BURKINA FASO: CPJ troubled by editor’s detention New York, November 8, 2004 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the detention of Mathieu N’do, managing editor of the pro-opposition weekly San Finna. Local sources say N’do was arrested November 5 […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Until recently, the investigation into the 13 December 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo was at a standstill. Now, however, new testimony could see Examining Judge Wenceslas Ilboudo reopen his investigation. Although six suspects were named by the independent commission of inquiry set up the day after the death of the editor, only […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 12 December 2002 RSF press release: Four years of impunity for the killers of journalist Norbert Zongo Reporters Without Borders calls on the UN to take up the case and to demand a trial RSF today deplored the failure to solve the murder of Norbert Zongo, publisher of the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 August 2002, RSF called for the immediate release of Agence France-Presse (AFP) and RSF correspondent Christophe Koffi, who was arrested on the evening of 7 August by four men in civilian dress. He was taken to a police station in Ougadougou, where he is still being held. “As far as we […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Three years ago, on 13 December 1998, Norbert Zongo, director of the weekly newspaper “L’Indépendant”, was murdered on a road in southern Burkina Faso. RSF is stunned that the investigation is not progressing. The people behind the murder have not been troubled, thereby reinforcing the feeling that the justice system in Burkina Faso […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 15 October 2001, RSF activists went to the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS) headquarters on Solférino Street in Paris, just as Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré was arriving to meet the party’s first secretary, François Hollande. RSF was hoping to draw the attention of the first secretary, and French officials who were […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: BLAISE COMPAORÉ’S VISIT TO FRANCE French courts refuse to hear complaint against Burkina Faso president Reporters sans frontières attempts to bring forward an independent action for damages Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has taken note of the French state prosecutor’s decision to shelf the organisation’s complaint against […]