Published on : 21/09/2022 – 05:03
On the 2nd day of the trial in the case of the assassination of Dabo Boukari, in May 1990 by the presidential security guards, after the interrogation of General Gibert Diendéré, prosecuted for complicity in illegal arrest, kidnapping, complicity of assault and battery resulting in death and concealment of a corpse, the witnesses were called to the bar.
With our correspondent in OuagadougouYaya Boudani
If most of the witnesses say they know nothing about the real circumstances of the death of the student in 7th year of medicine, the survivors gave their testimony. From their arrest, sequestration and transfer to military barracks for several months, the details of the death of their comrade, described as a “secret defense” have been revealed.
On May 19, 1990, soldiers in a civilian vehicle drove around certain neighborhoods of Ouagadougou, looking for the leaders of the student association behind a strike on campus. In court Aboubacar Coulibaly explains how they were taken to the presidential security barracks.
« We were put in the trunk of a vehicle and brought to the Council of the Entente. When we arrived, they started beating us. Some held cords, others broken branches. Me, when I was beaten, Dabo was watered using a hose connected to a tap and when it was Dabo’s turn, I was watered. »
After his death, the body of Dabo Boukari is smuggled in the night for his burial. His other comrades, who witnessed the scene, were transferred to a military barracks a hundred kilometers away. Sansan Kambou
« Because we were inconvenient witnesses, it was impossible for the students who had been arrested with Dabo to still be with the other students outside. It is because of this that we were transferred to where we stayed for more than five months. We were simply told: “You have to close it!” »
According to these witnesses, the survivors were released with instructions not to say a single word about what they experienced during their detention, at the risk of suffering the same fate.