Burkina-Faso: Civil society still calling for justice for Norbert Zongo
A quarter of a century after the murder of Norbert Zongo, the man who became a symbol of press freedom in Burkina Faso and on the continent, the people are still waiting for justice to be done.
In a letter delivered to the French embassy in Burkina Faso on Wednesday, the coordination of civil society organisations (CSOs) demanded the extradition of François Compaoré, the main defendant in the murder of the investigative journalist and his companions.
According to the coordination, all the guarantees provided by the country led France to issue a decree extraditing François Compaoré in February 2020.
However, the coordination regrets that three years after this decision, François Compaoré is still being held in France «under the fallacious pretext that the transitional government has not reiterated the guarantees for an impartial and fair trial for him».
The coordination described this attitude as a mechanical orchestration, in complicity with European Union bodies, to delay François Compaoré’s extradition as long as possible, which has finally exhausted the patience of the people.
It therefore called for Mr Compaoré to be extradited as soon as possible.
The famous journalist Norbert Zongo and three of his companions were killed on 13 December 1998, while investigating the suspicious death of David Ouédraogo, driver of Mr Compaoré, himself the younger brother of the then President of Faso.
As on every 13 December, civil society organisations (CSOs), the Association of Journalists of Burkina (AJB), and the Collective of Democratic Mass Organizations and Political Parties (CODMPP) honoured the memory of Norbert Zongo.
They reiterated to the transitional authorities their firm desire to see the judicial case brought to a successful conclusion.
To mark this 25th anniversary, a bust of the journalist was unveiled at the Norbert Zongo press centre.
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Maurice K. ZONGO
