On Friday, France managed to extradite Francois Compaore, brother of the former president of Burkina Faso, to his home country, where he is wanted in connection with the murder of a prominent journalist.
The Prime Minister, France’s highest court for public administration cases, rejected an appeal by Compaore’s lawyers against an earlier decision on his extradition, saying there were no constitutional or other reasons to overturn the decision.
Compaore is the younger brother of Blaise Compaore, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014 – after 27 years in power that began with a coup – and went into exile in Côte d’Ivoire.
The murdered journalist was Norbert Zongo, head of the weekly L’Independant and an investigative reporter. His charred body was found on December 13, 1998, along with three dead colleagues in a burned-out car on a road south of the capital, Ouagadougou.
The killings sparked mass protests in Burkina Faso and drew international condemnation.
Initially, only one suspect, presidential guard member Marcel Kafando, was charged with the murder and later acquitted.
Zongo had investigated the death of David Ouedraogo, Francois Compaore’s driver.
Burkina Faso closed the probe after freeing the guard, but the judiciary reopened the case after Blaise Compaore was ousted.
An independent inquiry commissioned by the subsequent government concluded that the assassination was linked to the professional activities of the journalist, who had a history of exposing irregularities in the Compaore regime.
Six suspects, all members of the presidential guard, were identified by the independent investigators and three were indicted.
‘Dignity, honor and responsibility’
Burkina Faso’s judiciary suspects that Francois Compaore may have ordered the beating, even though he has not yet been charged with any crime.
French police arrested him at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris in October 2017 following an international arrest warrant issued by his country’s government. In 2020, Burkina Faso entered into an agreement with France on his extradition.
Compaore’s lawyers said on Friday that their client was ready to face their country’s judiciary “with dignity, honor and responsibility”.
However, they added in a statement sent to AFP that he considered the extradition to be politically motivated and that the Council had not taken into account the risk of torture, inhuman treatment and an unfair trial awaiting him.
“He would certainly be exposed to such risks if he was handed over to Burkina Faso,” they said.
Compaore has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in hopes of stopping extradition, they said.
(AFP)
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