The Burkinabè government has adopted a bill setting out the conditions for granting amnesty to the perpetrators – mainly soldiers – of the September 2015 coup, we learned from an official source.
The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, responsible for relations with the Institutions, Keeper of the Seals, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, explained Friday during a press conference that the government's desire is to allow the soldiers involved in the acts of failed coup d'état of September 15 and 16, 2015, and who demonstrate “commitment” in the theater of the fight against terrorism, to benefit from the favor of the amnesty pardon.
Bayala maintained that this situation will increase the “commitment and sense of sacrifice” of the authors of the coup in this fight against the terrorist hydra where all forces and intelligence are called upon.
“Systematic confinements are not a good penal policy. The overall vision promoted by the President of Faso is a justice that is much more restorative than punitive,” underlined the minister.
“This law, which completely erases the sentence, will allow those who meet the conditions to progress in their careers,” he added, specifying however that damages will remain the responsibility of those granted amnesty.
On September 15 and 16, 2015, while Burkina Faso was preparing to organize elections to end the transition period begun after the fall of former President Blaise Compaoré, soldiers close to the latter and led by General Gilbert Diendéré tries to overthrow the authorities.
Around fifteen deaths and more than 250 injuries were recorded during these events.
More than 80 people, mainly soldiers and politicians, were prosecuted and convicted in 2019 by the Military Court for acts relating to attacks on state security and other related offenses.
Generals Gilbert Diendéré and Djibrill Bassolé, accused of being the main instigators of the coup, were respectively sentenced to twenty years and ten years in prison. Mr. Diendéré is still detained in prison while Mr. Bassolé lives in exile in France.
The minister in charge of justice, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, recalled Friday during his press conference that among the condemned, some have served their sentences and returned to their original unit or services where they contribute to operations to reconquer the territory ; others have appealed and are still awaiting judgment.
“Given the legal proceedings still in progress, this bill aims to remove the obstacles which constitute an obstacle to their career in terms of promotion and to encourage these people for their patriotic commitment and their sacrifice for the defense of the Nation”, he concluded.
