New episode in the case of the murder of Burkinabe journalist Norbert Zongo. The French Court of Cassation validated, Tuesday, June 4, the extradition of François Compaoré to Burkina Faso, where the brother of the former deposed president is implicated in the investigation into the murder of a journalist in 1998 This decision, however, requires a decree of the French government to be effective.
The highest court dismissed the appeal of the younger brother of former President Blaise Compaore, who was chased by the street in October 2014 after 27 years in power. It also refused to forward to the Constitutional Council a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) filed by its defense against the texts governing extradition.
"François Compaoré is not yet extradited"
Robert Zongo, younger brother of murdered journalist, Norbert Zongo, welcomed the decision taken by the French justice. "Francois Compaore will have plenty of time to do whatever he wants (...) I am convinced that he will return to Burkina Faso," he told AFP in Ouagadougou. "The people of Burkina Faso will always crave justice in the Norbert Zongo affair".
"These are two very summary decisions that are not at all to the extent of the means we have presented," reacted to the AFP Maitre Francois-Henri Briard, lawyer Francois Compaore. He said that "if a decree is actually signed by the French government", he would attack it before the Council of State. "We lost a battle, but not yet lost the war Francois Compaore is not yet extradited," he insisted.
The assassination of Norbert Zongo has never been officially clarified
On December 5, 2018, the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal had authorized the extradition of François Compaoré to Ouagadougou, where the Zongo case, filed in 2003 after a "dismissal" in favor of the only person charged, was reopened thanks to the fall of Blaise Compaoré.
A well-known investigative journalist and director of the weekly "L'Indépendant", Norbert Zongo was assassinated on December 13, 1998. He was investigating the murder of François Compaoré's driver. His death had provoked a deep political crisis in the "land of honest men".
The 49-year-old journalist, who was the author of several resounding investigations denouncing poor governance under the Compaoré regime, was killed along with three of his companions. The four remains had been found burned in southern Burkina Faso.
Aged 64, François Compaoré was arrested at the Roissy airport in October 2017 in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the authorities of Ouagadougou. But to date, he is not charged in his country, unlike three former soldiers of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), the former Praetorian guard Blaise Compaore.
With AFP