By RFPosted on 03-09-2019Modified on 03-09-2019 at 00:24

In Burkina Faso, after 18 months of trial, General Gilbert Diendéré, Blaise Compaoré's former chief of staff, is sentenced to 20 years and Djibril Bassolé, another tenor of Blaise Compaoré's regime, receives a 10-year prison closes. About ten of the 84 accused were acquitted for unincorporated offenses and for the benefit of the doubt. A verdict hailed by the lawyers of the civil parties.

The courtroom refused the world. The security system has been strengthened. And it took a little over an hour for the court to give the verdict of this lawsuit. Refusing to comment on the various sentences, Mr. Prosper Farama, one of the lawyers of the civil parties, believes that the most important for the victims is the holding of this trial.

" For the people of Burkina Faso, today is a historic day. Who would have thought, one day, that General Diendere, General Bassolé and all those soldiers who, a few years ago, were the strongmen of this country, could answer questions of mere victims? For us, already, it is that, the victory in this process. This is a victory for the people of Burkina Faso. It's a victory for the rule of law, "he says.

" It is not because they have condemned people that we are happy, we are happy because the law was said today. So the parents of victims are very happy because today they knew that in a state of law, justice must be expressed. Today, we are very proud and we ask everyone to avoid violence "adds Massirou Guiro, the movement Nothing will be as before.

General Gilbert Diendéré, presented as one of the brains of this failed coup d'etat, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A sentence that rejects his lawyer , master Mathieu Somé, who denounces a political trial.

" Twenty years is excessive. Was there a legal state? All legal power must derive from the Constitution. The power that was in place on September 5 was sitting on a charter, not the Constitution. So there was no legal regime. Why hold us back and condemn us for attacking state security? It is a political judgment. He is ostensibly political, "he says.

" How can someone who has neither been an author nor an accomplice of this coup d'etat betrayed? I wonder who he betrayed, when he betrayed and how he betrayed? The things that seem to him to be blamed seem to be the wiretaps that have never been authenticated to anyone , "said Aziz Dabo, spokesman for the New Alliance of Faso.

The various defendants remained calm at the announcement of the verdict and the sentences. They have fifteen days to appeal this decision of the military court.

Burkina Faso, during more than thirty years, under the old regime, experienced a certain impunity. Today, knowing that one can be condemned by justice for the acts that one has posed, whatever his political, military or civil position, this is a very strong message that the Burkinabè justice comes to throw.

What lessons can we already draw from this trial?

02-09-2019 - By Carine Frenk

Civil society leaders, the relatives of the victims and the wounded wait for the second phase of the trial. The one that will look at the compensation of the victims and the wounded.

" The important thing is that convictions were pronounced, " said Patrice Bazié, the secretary general of the Association of parents of victims of the coup. " For us, parents of victims, the most important thing is that we knew what happened and we knew who was behind all that. The sentences were pronounced. But whether it's 10, 20 or 25 years old, that's not the most important thing. The most important is that those who had to commit the mistakes were sentenced. What's a little frustrating is that it seems like they were all throwing the ball a bit: "It's not me who did this, it's the other, I was not not aware ... "But it still soothes the hearts of the parents of the victims. Maybe now we will be able to mourn and people will start living normally again. "

For Ali Sanou, Secretary-General of the Burkinabè Movement for Human and Peoples' Rights, he is also pleased that a trial in itself could have taken place. " This is the first time in our country, where blood crimes in particular have multiplied for several years, a trial is initiated and it goes to completion. It is a victory of our people who mobilized. We hope that this verdict will disillusion anyone who dreams of conquering power by a coup d'etat. We hope that the verdicts that have been delivered will indeed be implemented, and that on the altar of national reconciliation, we will not come to try to amnesty those who have committed human rights violations. "

    On the same subject

    Putsch missed in Burkina: Diendéré and Bassolé sentenced to 20 and 10 years in prison

    Burkina: Diendéré's lawyers point to former president Ouedraogo

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

    Burkina: Public prosecutor demands life imprisonment for Diendéré and Bassolé

    Burkina Faso: General Dienderé faces telephone recordings

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