Burkina Faso: resumed from the Sankara trial for the defense pleadings
Burkinabe General Gilbert Dienderé before military justice, October 11, 2021 in Ouagadougou.
AP - Sam Mednick
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The hearings were suspended in early March after a request from defense lawyers.
The trial of the alleged assassins of Thomas Sankara resumed this morning March 22, 2022 in Ouagadougou.
The lawyers of the defendants have the floor for their pleadings, after three weeks of silence.
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With our special correspondent in Ouagadougou
,
Sidy Yansané
A long pause
which will at least have made it possible to answer a question as surprising as it is fundamental: can a coup d'etat be legal?
In any case, this is what the defense lawyers wanted to assume following the putsch on January 24 last by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and invested president by the Constitutional Council.
The sages of the high institution decided last week: they do not legalize the coup.
The charges of undermining state security will therefore remain valid during the trial.
A trial which resumed this morning at the Salle des Banquets in Ouaga 2000, which hosts the first instance investigative chamber of the military tribunal.
An almost empty room, but marked by the presence of Mariam Sankara, the widow of the former Burkinabè president.
20 years in prison required
The 12 defendants were also present, including the main defendant, General Gilbert Diendéré, who took his place before the judges with a sure and determined step, alongside his co-defendants.
It was precisely the high-ranking lawyer who opened the ball with a long introduction, insisting on the prescription of the facts alleged against his client, namely the attack on state security, complicity in assassination and concealment. of corpse.
The prosecutor had also requested 20 years in prison against the general
.
The pleadings began with the lawyers for the doctors accused of having given a false death certificate on the causes of death of Thomas Sankara and will continue throughout the week until Friday.
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Burkina Faso
Justice
Thomas Sankara