The head of the junta in Burkina Faso has pardoned 21 soldiers convicted of involvement in a failed coup in 2015, according to an official decree seen by reporters on Monday.
The troubled west African country, Burkina Faso has been run since September 2022 by military leaders following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traore.
Traore announced an “amnesty pardon” in December last year for several people convicted over the 2015 attempt to overthrow the transitional government in place after the fall of former president Blaise Compaore.
“The following persons, who have been convicted or prosecuted before the courts for acts committed on September 15 and 16, 2015, are granted amnesty,” stated the decree, issued last week, listing the 21 soldiers.
Six officers, including two former unit commanders of the former presidential guard, are on the list alongside 15 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers.
They were convicted at a military tribunal in Ouagadougou in 2019 for “harming state security”, murder or treason.
Two generals considered the masterminds of the failed coup, Compaore’s former chief of staff Gilbert Diendere and head of diplomacy Djibril Bassole, were sentenced to 20 and 10 years in prison respectively.
They were not part of the amnesty.
Those convicted have until June to request a pardon.
To do so, they have to “demonstrate a patriotic commitment to the reconquest of the territory” and “express their willingness to actively participate in the fight against terrorism”.
The 21 soldiers pardoned will rejoin the Burkina Faso army, which has been fighting jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group for more than 10 years.
But the decree stipulates that they will not be eligible for compensation or career progression.
Diendere and Bassole tried to oust the transitional government put in place after Compaore was forced out of office in October 2014 by a popular uprising, after 27 years in power.
Loyalist forces put down the attempted coup within two weeks. A total of 14 people died and 270 were wounded.
The Burkina Faso justice ministry in December said that some 1,200 people convicted in connection with the coup attempt would be pardoned from January 1.
