Burkina Faso responds to criticism from François Compaoré's French lawyers
Audio 00:50
Norbert Zongo was assassinated on December 13, 1998, while investigating the murder under torture of David Ouédraogo, François Compaoré's driver.
AFP / Ahmed Ouoba
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Monday July 12, in Paris, before the Council of State which was examining the decree allowing the extradition of their client, the lawyers of the brother of the former Burkinabè president affirmed that if France extradited him, he would not benefit from 'a fair trial and that his safety would be in danger.
The Burkinabè Ministry of Justice replied to them.
Publicity
Read more
“
The life of François Compaoré is in your hands.
Its a question of life or death.
".
It is with these dramatic words that
the lawyer of François Compaoré
master François-Henri Briard had pleaded, Monday, July 12, his opposition to the extradition of his client to Burkina Faso.
His colleague Maître Pierre-Olivier Sur even adding: “
If François Compaoré is extradited, he will be killed in a cell.
"
The Burkinabè Minister of Justice did not appreciate these accusations and has just answered through the mouth of her chief of staff Issa Saferiba Fayama.
Burkina is a country which belongs to all the international conventions which guarantee a fair trial, he protests. Throughout the application procedure, Burkina has sufficiently demonstrated that Mr. François Compaoré will benefit from a fair trial once he is extradited to Burkina Faso. If his detention were to be ordered by the judge, the conditions of detention in any case are not as appalling as these lawyers try to make it clear.
In terms of guarantees offered to the Council of State, we said clearly that public structures, for example the French embassy in Burkina Faso have regular access to detention centers which are, I was going to say, like the level of Burkinabè life.
Burkina, in any case, is not in a position to offer detention centers in the same way as France.
Let us recall that in Burkina Faso, the younger brother of the former president is indicted for "inciting assassination" in
the Norbert Zongo affair
, this journalist killed in 1998.
Cancellation or maintenance of the
extradition decree
of François Compaoré?
The French Council of State will render its decision in at least two weeks.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Burkina Faso
Blaise Compaore
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré
Justice
On the same subject
Burkina Faso / Justice
Burkina Faso: for those close to Norbert Zongo, justice is moving forward
Norbert Zongo case: François Compaoré soon fixed on his possible extradition