Covering events from January - December 2003

There appeared to be no progress in investigations into the alleged extrajudicial execution of more than 100 people whose bodies were uncovered in 2001 and 2002, or into the killings of a prominent journalist and three others in 1998.

Background

The crisis in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire in September 2002 led to thousands of Burkina Faso nationals returning home, which contributed to an increasing social crisis. The two countries reopened their common border in September. However, in October the Burkina Faso authorities accused Côte d'Ivoire of being involved in an alleged coup attempt in Burkina Faso. Several people, most of them military officers, were arrested following the alleged coup attempt.

Impunity

No progress was reported in the judicial investigation commission promised in early 2002 after the human rights organization Burkinabè Movement for Human and Peoples' Rights reported that 106 bodies had been found between October 2001 and January 2002. The organization said that the bodies were handcuffed and bullet-ridden, and alleged that the victims had been extrajudicially executed by security forces during a security operation launched in October 2001. There was also no progress in the investigation into the killings of Norbert Zongo, a prominent journalist, Ablassé Nikiema, Ernest Zongo and Blaise Ilboudo in 1998.

Death penalty

On 1 April the Criminal Chamber of the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal sentenced Pierre Soulgané and Mahamady Congo to death in absentia for the murder and mutilation of a Belgian woman, Monique Meyer, in May 2002.

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