France has revoked the ministerial decree authorizing the extradition of former President Blaise Compaoré's brother, Paul François Compaoré, to Burkina Faso in 2020, where he is accused of the 1998 murder of a journalist, he said. – We learned on Thursday from a judicial source.
“The decree was revoked on December 13,” announced the president of the extradition chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal during a hearing on Wednesday to overturn Mr. Compaoré’s judicial review granted in 2017 as part of the extradition process.
The cancellation of Mr. Compaoré's extradition “followed the judgment of the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights) of September 7, 2023, which concluded that there would be a violation of Article 3 in the event of the applicant's extradition to Burkina Faso .”, summarized the French Ministry of Justice. This article of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The cancellation decree signed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is a rare act, two sources familiar with the matter noted.
Paul François Compaoré, younger brother of the former Burkinabe president (1991-2014) and one of his close advisors, is charged in Burkina Faso with the murder of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo and three men who accompanied him on December 13, 1998.
He was arrested on October 29, 2017 at Roissy airport, near Paris, in execution of an international arrest warrant issued by Ouagadougou.
Burkina had requested his extradition from France and subsequently ensured that even if Mr. Compaoré were sentenced to death by an independent court, it would not be carried out.
Mr. Compaoré, who lives in France, was released under judicial supervision on October 30, 2017 and has expanded his appeal process.
The judiciary approved his extradition in 2018, then a ministerial decree was signed in 2020, which was confirmed by the Council of State (the highest French administrative body) the following year. But the ECtHR, contacted by Mr Compaoré's defense, ruled on September 7 that France should re-examine this decree.
“The context has changed,” noted the president of the Extradition Chamber, alluding to the two successive coups that the country experienced in 2022.
Paul François Compaoré, dressed in a dark blue suit, did not want to speak at this brief audience.
“Mr. Compaoré never stopped challenging his extradition, which entailed “serious risks to his fundamental rights,” recalled his lawyer Me Clara Gérard-Rodriguez.
“There are no longer any cases pending against him” and there is no justification for him being placed under judicial supervision, she added.
Relations between France and Burkina have deteriorated significantly since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in a coup in September 2022.