Burkina Faso wants to reinstate death penalty, government source says

Military regime considering move after capital punishment abolished in west African country in 2018

Burkina Faso’s military regime wants to reinstate the death penalty after the west African country abolished it in 2018, a government source told Agence France-Presse on Saturday.

The last execution in Burkina Faso was carried out on 19 September 1988, according to Amnesty International. The nation’s final executions killed 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.

Reintroducing capital punishment to the penal code “is being considered”, the source said. “It’s up to the government to discuss it, then make the proposal 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.

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

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

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

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,” it said.