Arrest warrant for Campaore cancelled
Publish date: 02 May 2016
Issue Number: 675
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Burkina Faso
A top Burkina Faso court has cancelled an arrest warrant for former President Blaise Compaore who fled the country after a popular uprising in 2014. Legalbrief reports that the country’s chief prosecutor, Armand Ouedraogo, said ‘all the international arrest warrants have been cancelled by the Court of Cassation on procedural grounds’. He added they could be reinstituted in future. A military tribunal last year issued the warrant against Compaore who was forced to resign in late 2014 during a revolt after nearly three decades in power. A report on the ABC News site notes that he faced assassination charges in connection with the killing of President Thomas Sankara during a coup in 1987. However, states the report, Compaore had become a citizen of Ivory Coast, a move critics said blocked him from facing extradition.
