for investigations to be initiated to ascertain the cause (or causes) of the death of the
occupants of Norbert Zongo’s car;
-
On
the directive
of the
aforementioned
judge,
a post mortem
examination
of the
exhumed bodies and forensic analysis of the items found at the scene of the crime, were
conducted;
- Letter of complaint and filing for damages by the Applicants - 6 January 1999;
- Creation of an Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICE) charged with “conducting all
the necessary investigations to establish the cause of death of the occupants of the 4WD
vehicle with plate number
Ouagadougou
11 J 6485 BF, which occurred on 13 December
highway (Kadiogo Province),
(December 1998).
including
1998 on the
the journalist Norbert Zongo”
The Commission submitted its report in May 1999;
- Decision by an extra-ordinary session of the Council of Ministers to forward the ICE
report promptly to justice (May 1999);
- Establishment of a Committee of the Wise to examine all issues pending at the time,
and to make recommendations acceptable to all stakeholders on the national political
scene (May 1999). The Committee of the Wise submitted its report in July 1999;
- Summons
issued on 16 January 2001 by a
first Investigating Magistrate to Fran¢ois
Compaoré who failed to appear;
- Hearing of Frangois Compaoré
by a second
Investigating Magistrate, after the first
Investigating Magistrate who had charged him with murder and concealment of the body,
had been withdrawn from the case (January 2001);
- Indictment of one of the suspects previously identified by the ICE (February 2001). As
the indictee was said to be ill, action on the matter was frozen for more than five years;
- Order to terminate proceedings against the indictee for lack of evidence, issued by the
Investigating Magistrate of the Ouagadougou High Court, after a witness declined to give
evidence (July 2006); and