Burkina Faso adopts amnesty law for 2015 putschists

Burkina Faso’s government has adopted a new bill which will grant amnesty to people convicted in connection with the failed 2015 coup.

The Minister of Justice said they will first have to admit to facts, behave well, and be willing to be operationally deployed in the fight against terrorism.

In 2015, a group of soldiers from the country’s elite Presidential Security Regiment, loyal to ousted President Blaise Campaore, attempted to end the transitional government less than a month before democratic elections.

Campaore was forced out of office in 2014 by protesters angered by his attempt to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule, and fled the country.

The week-long power grab failed following opposition from part of the army and the population, and several high-ranking officers were sentenced to prison terms in 2019.

Appeal judgements are still pending following the trial, but the justice minister said the amnesty law could make up for the slowness of the justice system and unblock the situation.

He said the people concerned by the amnesty will be designated in a forthcoming decree.

The draft law has sparked mixed reactions, with some seeing it as a positive step towards reconciliation, while others question its motivation and implications.

Following the failed 2015 coup, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré won the election, in the country’s first peaceful and fair vote in 50 years.

He was however ousted in a military-led insurgency in January 2022, which was followed nine months later by a second coup, whose leader is still in power.