Burkina coup leader charged with 'crime against humanity'

A month after a bloody attempted coup, Burkina Faso said Friday a general loyal to ousted ex-president Blaise Compaore accused of leading the putsch would be prosecuted on a range of charges, including "crime against humanity".

The development comes as the interim government tries to turn a page on the short-lived putsch and uncover the truth about the death of the country's charismatic former leader Thomas Sankara, just six weeks ahead of landmark presidential and parliamentary elections.

Colonel Sita Sangare, in charge of military justice, told reporters that 11 charges had been filed against General Gilbert Diendere including an unspecified "crime against humanity".

Diendere is accused of leading a power grab by elite presidential guards loyal to ousted head of state Blaise Compaore on September 17. The general, who headed the force, was Compaore right-hand man during much of his 27-year rule.

Burkina Faso was brought to the brink of chaos for six days before the coup collapsed when its leaders admitted they lacked popular support. The presidential guard has since been disarmed and formally disbanded.
According to government figures, 14 people were killed and 251 injured in the unrest.

Sangare also said they may yet prosecute Compaore over the murder of his iconic predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987.

"For now, former president Compaore is not being pursued (in the Sankara case), but it is not ruled out that it could happen," he said.

Sankara, a revolutionary figure who is still a hero to many in west Africa, was killed in mysterious circumstances.

A lawyer for his family said on Tuesday that an autopsy showed his remains had been riddled with bullets.

"There were more than a dozen all over the body, even below the armpits," Ambroise Farama said.
- Death mystery -
The fate of Sankara -- dubbed Burkina's "Che Guevara" -- has been a thorny issue for decades.

Critics of Compaore accuse him of orchestrating the murder of his former comrade-in-arms and then covering up the deed.
Sankara's death certificate stated the 37-year-old former army captain died of "natural causes".

Several reports have since suggested he was executed by a hit squad at government headquarters on October 15, 1987 -- an account that appeared to be supported by the results of the autopsy.

Sankara and 12 former aides were exhumed at a cemetery in Ouagadougou in May.

About a thousand people turned out in the capital on Thursday night to mark the anniversary of Sankara's death, the first such commemoration in public since Compaore's fall.

Compaore himself was ousted by a campaign of street protests last year after attempting to extend his near-three decades in power.

He was replaced by an interim government, led by Michel Kafando, which this week announced that presidential and parliamentary elections initially set for October 11, but delayed by the failed coup, would go ahead on November 29.

Amnesty International has demanded troops behind the coup be punished for violence against civilians.
"(They) displayed a cold-blooded disregard for human life, killing 14 unarmed protestors and bystanders and wounding hundreds more with automatic weapons," the rights group said in a statement on Wednesday.

A total of 23 people have been charged over the putsch, the military prosecutor said.

Among those charged are members of Diendere's elite guard and high-ranking political figures such as Djibrill Bassole, former foreign affairs minister, and Colonel Sidi Pare.

On Friday Commander Alain Jean-Claude Zagre was appointed to replace Pare as the junior minister in charge of security.

Colonel Sangare also said the failed coup leader's wife Fatou Diendere, whose candidacy for the parliamentary vote has been rejected by the constitutional court, is being prosecuted.

And the Ouagadougou residence of Guillaume Soro, president of Ivory Coast's parliament and a protege of Compaore, was raided by police on October 6, Sangare said.

Soro has not been seen for at least a year at his residence in the Burkinabe capital.

Source: AFP