By RFIPosted on 04-07-2019Modified on 04-07-2019 at 01:08

In Burkina Faso, the acquittals are pending at the Ouagadougou Military Court. For 16 months, 84 defendants have appeared in the trial of the coup d'etat in September 2015.

Private Samuel Coulibaly guilty? For Maître Maria Kanyili, her client found himself in the box of the accused after confusions of the military prosecutor, who has required 25 years of imprisonment against him.

" Nowhere, " the lawyer said, " we did not see him disperse a demonstration or shoot. According to Kanyili, Samuel Coulibaly contented himself with leading Sergeant Ali Sanou and his team to Zorgho. " Driving is not an offense, " she said.

As a reminder, it was in the city of Zorgho that a radio station was burned by soldiers of the former Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) during the failed coup of September 2015. Government members transition, after the fall of Blaise Compaoré, had been arrested and sequestered by a group of NCOs of the former presidential guard. General Gilbert Dienderé, former right-hand man of Compaoré, was appointed to lead a "National Council of Democracy". But the mobilization of the other soldiers and the populations had finally failed the coup.

" Do not blame innocent people for the culprits ," Kanyili told the court before the end of her speech. It was then Mr. Pascal Ouedraogo's turn to also ask the acquittal for his clients. According to the lawyer, Corporal Pascal Moukoro was intercepted and embarked in the coup by senior soldiers. " We even had him wear the clothes and shoes of another soldier, " says Ouedraogo.

As for the accused, he implored the court's indulgence. " I am only a simple soldier who obeyed orders, defended Pascal Moukoro. I never intended to make a move. "

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