By RFPosted on 08-08-2019Modified on 08-08-2019 at 23:58

The lawyers of General Gilbert Dienderé, mastermind of the failed coup of 2015, demanded the acquittal of their client Thursday, August 8 at a press conference in Ouagadougou. According to Mr. Jean Yaovi Degli, he assumed the vacancy of power on an express proposal of the former President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo to avoid "chaos".

According to the defense of the principal defendant in the September 2015 failed coup trial, the basic principles of fair justice were violated. " General Diendéré did not even know what he was criticized when he was arrested, " said Thursday Jean Yaovi Degli. According to the lawyer, Gilbert Diendéré did not organize a conspiracy or an attack on state security, referring to the Burkinabe Penal Code.

► See also: Diendéré's lawyers plead acquittal

" General Diendéré never denied having assumed the vacancy of power, " said Yaovi Degli. He assumed it on the proposal of President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo ". According to Mr. Jean Yaovi Degli, his client can only be prosecuted for acts of complicity and not as an author of an attack on state security or other offenses.

The former head of state Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo rejects these accusations

For his part, former Burkinabe President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, who was part of a group of mediators from the first hours of the arrest of the authorities of the Transition, rejects the accusations of the defense of General Gilbert Dienderé.

Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo denies having proposed to General Gilbert Diendéré to assume the vacancy of power following the failure of the mediation. " I never talked about that. I did not even know that chaos would come, "replies Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo. The former president of Burkina Faso explains that his intention was to protect everything from chaos in the first hours of the arrest of the transitional authorities.

On September 16, 2015, soldiers of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the transitional government set up after the fall of President Blaise Compaore. The Military Attorney General requested life imprisonment against General Diendéré, who had taken the leadership of the National Council for Democracy, the governing body of the putschists.

►Also read: Putsch missed in Burkina: former president Ouedraogo at the helm as a witness

    On the same subject

    Trial of the failed coup in Burkina Faso: Diendéré demands clemency

    Putsch missed in Burkina: Diendéré's lawyers plead acquittal

    Trial of failed coup in Burkina: "I only obeyed orders"

    Trial of the failed coup in Burkina Faso: the time for pleadings

    comments