Burkina Faso To Reinstate Death Penalty

The death penalty is to be reinstated by Burkina Faso’s military regime after it was abolished in 2018 by the West African country.

According to Amnesty International, the last execution in Burkina Faso was carried out on 19 September 1988. Four leaders accused of an attempted coup d’état to depose the president, Blaise Compaoré, the defence minister, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, the minister of economic promotion, Henri Zongo, and two unidentified men were killed due to the nation’s final executions.

Reintroducing capital punishment to the penal code “is being considered”,
“It’s up to the government to discuss it, then propose to the Transitional Legislative Assembly for adoption.”

Justice minister Rodrigue Bayala said on Friday, after parliament passed a bill introducing community service, that “The issue of the death penalty, which is being discussed, will be implemented in the draft criminal code”.

Bayala also said there could be further amendments to the criminal code “to follow the vision and the guidelines given by the head of state, Capt Ibrahim Traoré”, who seized power in a September 2022 coup.

Despite Traoré, the country’s ruler, pledging that he would restore the civilian government by 1 July, Burkina Faso’s military government announced in May this year that it would extend junta rule for another five years.

Instead, Traoré’s government passed a bill that month that included plans to ban homosexuality.

“Recorded executions more than tripled and recorded death sentences increased
significantly by 66%”, said Amnesty International in October. It has found the use of the death penalty rising in Africa.

Conversely, Amnesty said: “Twenty-four countries across sub-Saharan Africa have abolished the death penalty for all crimes while two additional countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes only.”

“Kenya and Zimbabwe currently have bills tabled to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, while Gambia … has commenced a constitutional amendment process that will … effectively abolish the death penalty.”