Burkina Faso
AA/ Ouagadougou / Dramane Traoré
The meeting scheduled for Friday in Ouagadougou between the President of Burkina Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and the five former heads of state “does not hinder the legal proceedings initiated against some”, in particular Blaise Compaoré and Yacouba Isaac Zida, announced on Wednesday, the Burkinabè Presidency in a press release.
Invited to this high-level meeting are Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (2016-2022), Michel Kafando (September 23, 2015-December 29, 2015), Yacouba Isaac Zida (November 1, 2014-November 18, 2014), Blaise Compaoré (October 15, 1987 – October 31, 2014) and Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo (1982-1983).
“This important meeting for the life of the Nation does not hinder the legal proceedings initiated against some”, assured the press release.
Blaise Compaoré, 71, who ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years, was tried in absentia and sentenced on April 6 to life in prison in the trial of the 1987 assassination of Captain Thomas Sankara, while he was president of Burkina Faso.
The lawyers of the Sankara family indicated that Blaise Compaoré was sentenced to life in this case and that this judgment is worth detention for the accused sentenced to a custodial sentence not covered by pre-trial detention in accordance with the provisions of law.
As for Yacouba Isaac Zida, he took refuge in Canada since the first mandate of Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in 2016. His name appears in the investigation report on the repression of demonstrators during the popular uprising of October 2014.
He is also suspected by the courts of financial embezzlement when he occupied the presidential chair.
If the government confirmed Wednesday, through its spokesperson, Lionel Bilgo, the trip of Blaise Compaoré, it was not specified whether Zida will travel from Canada.
On June 21, Damiba had already received in audience the former heads of state, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo. “A meeting which bears witness to the Head of State’s desire for reconciliation, for a united, determined and united Burkina in the fight against the terrorist hydra”, indicated the Presidency in a press release stressing that this meeting “translates the materialization of the call for national unity and social cohesion launched by the President of Faso for more social cohesion and for a Burkina reconciled with itself and its history”.
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