Burkina Faso: Pro-junta activist sentenced to three years in jail
A court in Burkina Faso on Tuesday jailed a pro-junta activist for one year for defaming the police and added two more years from a previous suspended sentence for making death threats. ALSO READ: Mali’s junta chief new constitution fuels opponents protests The court in the capital Ouagadougou found Mohamed Sinon guilty after he accused the […]
A court in Burkina Faso on Tuesday jailed a pro-junta activist for one year for defaming the police and added two more years from a previous suspended sentence for making death threats.
ALSO READ: Mali’s junta chief new constitution fuels opponents protests
The court in the capital Ouagadougou found Mohamed Sinon guilty after he accused the gendarmerie of failing to be “100 percent committed in the struggle” against a jihadist insurgency.
Sinon was also fined one million CFA francs ($1,700) for “attacking the honour of the gendarmerie corps.” A charge of endangering other people was dropped.
ALSO READ: First woman in 20 years executed in Singapore
The defendant pleaded not guilty, claiming he had “not mentioned the struggle against terrorism but rather against corruption”.
Sinon, who heads the Collective of Pan-African Leaders (CLP), had already received a two-year suspended jail sentence in February for threatening to kill two journalists.
PRO-JUNTA ACTIVIST
ALSO READ: Junta complains about UN spy mission in Mali
The court decided Tuesday that Sinon should now serve the full three years.
Burkina Faso has been ruled since September 2022 by a junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traore who has promised a return to democracy with presidential elections next year.
ALSO READ: Beleaguered Malian junta wants vote on new constitution
He has vowed to re-capture the 40 percent of national territory seized since 2015 by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
ab/stb/bp/ri