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Burkina Faso leader pardons 21 soldiers involved in failed 2015 coup
Category: People | Posted on 2025-04-01 08:44:06
Twenty-one soldiers, convicted for their role in the failed coup d’tat in Burkina Faso in September2015, have received a presidential pardon. The west African country has been under military rule since September 2022, following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traor.
Traor announced an “amnesty pardon” in December last year for several people convicted over the 2015 attempt to overthrow the transitional government in place after the fall of former president Blaise Compaor.
“The following persons, who have been convicted or prosecuted before the courts for acts committed on September 15 and 16, 2015, are granted amnesty,” stated the decree, issued last week, listing the 21 soldiers.
Six officers, including two former unit commanders of the former presidential guard, are on the list alongside 15 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers. They were convicted at a military tribunal in Ouagadougou in 2019 for “harming state security,” murder or treason.
Two generals considered the masterminds of the failed coup, Compaor’s former chief of staff Gilbert Diendr and head of diplomacy Djibril Bassol, were sentenced to 20 and 10 years in prison respectively. They were not part of the amnesty.
Burkina Faso has extended amnesty to those involved in failed 2015 coup and those convicted have until June this year to request a pardon.
To do so, they have to “demonstrate a patriotic commitment to the reconquest of the territory” and “express their willingness to actively participate in the fight against terrorism.”
The 21 soldiers pardoned will rejoin the army, which has been fighting jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group for more than 10 years. But the decree stipulates that they will not be eligible for compensation or career progression.
Diendr and Bassol tried to oust the transitional government put in place after Compaor was forced out of office in October 2014 by apopular uprising, after 27 years in power. Loyalist forces put down the attempted coup within two weeks. A total of 14 people died and 270 were wounded.
The justice ministry in December said that some 1,200 people convicted in connection with the coup attempt would be pardoned from 1 January. Burkina Faso’s ruling president announced last May that he will remain in power for another five years under an accord adopted during national consultations.
The deadline for transition to civilian rule was originally set for 1 July 2025. According to the charter, signed by Traor, elections may be organized before the deadline “if the security situation so permits.”