The trial of the alleged assassins of Captain Thomas Sankara is due to resume on Monday. After the debates and the hearing of the witnesses, the trial enters the phase of the pleadings of the lawyers of the civil parties, followed by the requisitions of the military prosecutor’s office. But doubts hover over an effective resumption of the hearing because some lawyers for the civil parties wonder whether the suspension of the Constitution by the military junta will taint the rest of this procedure.
With our correspondent in Ouagadougou, Yaya Boudani
“ Do the pleadings start this Monday? I really do not know launches us a lawyer for the civil parties. This council ensures that his cabinet will be present in the room, because it is not the security context that is his concern, but the suspension of the constitution by the junta in power.
” It will still be difficult to continue this trial against alleged putschists, in the context of a coup says the lawyer. Our interlocutor fears that the defendants will challenge the verdict before international courts. What could be a blow to this procedure worries the lawyer.
” It is up to the president of the chamber to decide whether the hearing will continue in this context. “Underlines a defense lawyer who continues that the summonses for the resumption of the trial have already been received. ” We will be in the room, because justice is service to the people he says.
Suspended since January 12 after the hearing of the surviving victims and the presentation of exhibits, the trial of the alleged assassins of President Thomas Sankara and twelve other people, resumes in principle this Monday, with the pleadings of the lawyers of the civil parties, followed submissions from the prosecution.