RIGHTS-BURKINA FASO: Journalist Case Puts Spotlight On Justice System

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Brahima Ouedraogo

OUAGADOUGOU, Aug 4 2006 (IPS) - A decision by a judge to drop charges against the suspect in the case of slain journalist Norbert Zongo has placed Burkina Faso’s justice system in the spotlight.

”The verdict is a scandal and a disgrace to our justice system,” said Jean Claude Meda, president of the Association of Burkina Faso Journalists, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Ouagadougou, the capital.

”It’s unbelievable that they dismissed the case for lack of evidence, given all the resources that the investigating judge had at his disposal and all the work done by the independent commission of inquiry,” he added.

Last month the judge dismissed charges against Marcel Kafando, the only suspect in the Zongo murder, for lack of evidence. The main witness, sergeant Jean Racine Yameogo, recanted his original testimony.

Yameogo’s testimony refuted the alibi proffered by Kafando, a former soldier in the presidential guard, charged in February 2001 for Zongo’s murder and destruction of personal property. Kafondo had claimed that he was with his unit the day Zongo was murdered.

Kafondo’s luck came during a court hearing in May, when Yameogo retracted his testimony that he did not remember the date he met Kafando. He also said he no longer remembered if he had been with his unit the day the murder took place.

At a news conference in Ouagadougou last month, prosecutor Adama Sagon said Kafando was set free because in law ”the accused benefits from doubt” of witnesses.

Others remain unconvinced. ”It is unacceptable that the only person to be charged in this case is so easily exonerated. We are deeply disappointed by the perfunctory manner in which the Burkinabe justice system investigated this case,” said Gabriel Baglo, director of the Africa Bureau of the International Federation of Journalists, an NGO based in New York.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, another international NGO that defends journalists and promote free speech, issued a statement saying ”dismissal of the Zongo case for lack of evidence is a disgraceful and scandalous denial of justice”.

”We are greatly concerned that after an eight-year investigation and the creation of an independent commission, the authorities decided to drop the charges,” said Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, another NGO based in New York. ”Terminating the Zongo case sends a bad signal to journalist killers, and his murder will continue to cast a shadow on the country’s independent press”.

On December 13, 1998, Zongo, who was editor of the weekly magazine L’Independant, and three companions, were found on a roadside murdered in their car about 100 kilometres south of Ouagadougou.

At the time of his death, Zongo was investigating the suspicious death of the chauffeur of Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore’s younger brother. Zongo had just published articles showing that Francois Compaore was involved in the torture-murder of his chauffeur, David Ouedraogo, who was accused of stealing money.

Zongo’s death sparked unprecedented demonstrations in this West African country, forcing the government to set up an independent commission of inquiry, and a college of elders to develop political reforms to ease the tension.

As a result of this pressure, the government moved fast to reform the electoral code and the constitution. The goal was to ensure better representation of various political parties in the National Assembly. The reform also saw the imposition of two five-year term limits on the presidency.

The commission concluded that Zongo’s death was linked to his professional activities. It cited six soldiers in the presidential guard as ”serious suspects” in the murder.

Now opposition parties fear that the gains made since the Zongo murder may be lost as a result of the verdict.

Last month the opposition gathered at Zongo’s tomb in the capital’s cemetery to rededicate itself, it said, to fight until justice prevails.

”What just happened is eminently political; we’re supposed to have elections soon, but we think that the ruling party has something else in mind,” said Christian Kone, an opposition spokesman.

According to analysts, the opposition fears that the ruling party is plotting to amend the constitution that could affect next year’s legislative polls.

The opposition has accused President Compaore of taking advantage of his popularity to push through some unpopular laws. Compaore, who has been in power for 19 years, was elected with 86 percent of the vote in November 2005.

As for now, Zongo’s popularity seems to be uniting the opposition. ”The judge’s decision to release Marcel Kafando for lack of evidence . . . in the Norbert Zongo affair was not only intended to quash the case, but also to snuff out the flame of the people’s fury at this quadruple murder (Zongo and his three companions),” the opposition said in a statement made available to IPS last month.

A lawyer for the Zongo family said they will appeal the court’s ruling. ”The Zongo case will not be buried,” said Benewinde Sankara, the lawyer.

”Since the death of Norbert Zongo, many people have been skeptical. And today, eight years later, I think that those who were skeptical at the beginning were right because they were realistic about the Burkinabe justice system,” he told IPS.

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