Burkina Faso’s ruling junta has reinstated the death penalty, the justice ministry said Tuesday, following a unanimous vote by the West African country’s unelected legislature.
The new penal code reintroducing capital punishment, which had been abolished in 2018, “aims to strengthen public order, consolidate the nation’s fundamental values and guarantee security for people and property”, the ministry said.
Burkina Faso has been ruled by a military junta since a 2022 coup.
Its leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, had announced plans last year to reinstate the death penalty.
State news agency AIB said crimes punishable by death would include “acts of terrorism, espionage, treason, patricide and importing expired or banned products causing death”.
The last execution recorded in Burkina Faso was in 1988, according to Amnesty International, which had urged the country not to bring back capital punishment.
AFP
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