Some 20 Burkinabe soldiers on trial at a military tribunal over a failed raid on an arms depot last year have said they were tortured to extract their confessions.

Almost all of them said they had suffered beatings, humiliation and food deprivation at the police camp where they were held after their arrest following the raid in January 2016, for which they have been on trial since Tuesday.

"When I was arrested on January 25, 2016, I was abused by police officers from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm", Sergeant Ollo Stanislas Poda said on Saturday.

"I was beaten with a wet rope, threatened with an (automatic pistol), handcuffed and suspended from a table to make me talk,"

Like him, most of the soldiers being prosecuted for "military conspiracy" said they had been physically abused and subjected to inhumane treatment.

"If you arrest someone like my client on January 21, 2016, and eventually it is on March 16 -- 52 days later -- that you present him to an investigating judge and in the meantime he was detained, we are posing the question about what has been done to him during all this time," said Issouf Kabre, lawyer for soldier Kam Ollo Bienvenu.

The soldiers, including about 10 members of the former elite presidential guard (RSP) of ousted leader Blaise Compaore, are also accused of "removing military equipment by breaking and entering".

The arms were allegedly to be used to attack Ouagadougou military prison to release former RSP head General Gilbert Diendere and other soldiers jailed for their alleged involvement in a failed coup in September 2015.

The coup bid was thwarted by street protesters and support from the army, which attacked the plotters' barracks.

Tweet

Mali opposition close to joining key peace summit
Bamako (AFP) April 1, 2017
Mali's opposition on Saturday took tentative steps towards ending its boycott of a political summit enshrined in the country's 2015 peace deal after the government extended a deadline to facilitate extra talks. Opposition parties were the last holdout after former rebels who had led several uprisings against the state in Mali's north ended their own boycott on Tuesday to attend a conference ... read more

Related Links
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only