I]. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION 1. By letter dated 11 December 2011, the Court was seized of this matter by Ibrahima Kane, claiming to act on behalf of the family and advocates of Late Norbert Zongo. According to the document titled “Communication/Application” dated 10 December 2011 annexed to the aforesaid beneficiaries of letter, the action is brought against Burkina Faso by the Late Norbert Zongo, Abdoulaye Nikiema alias Ablassé, Ernest Zongo and Blaise Ilboudo and by the Burkinabé Human and Peoples’ Rights Movement. A) The facts of the matter 2. According to the Application, the facts date back to 13 December 1998, when Norbert Zongo, an investigating journalist, and his above-mentioned companions were murdered. The companions, Abdoulaye Nikiema and Blaise Ilboudo, were work colleagues of Mr. Zongo, while Ernest Zongo was his younger brother. 3. The Applicants magazine state that “the investigating journalist and L’Indépendant, Norbert Zongo and his companions, Director of the weekly Abdoulaye Nikiema, Ernest Zongo and Blaise IIboudo, were found burnt in the car in which they were travelling, on 13 December 1998, seven kilometres from Sapouy, on the way to Leo, in the south of Burkina Faso”. 4. Relying mainly on the report of the Independent Commission of Enquiry set up by the Government to determine the cause of death of the aforementioned persons, the Applicants allege that “the murder of the four persons on 13 December 1998 is connected with investigations that Norbert Zongo was conducting on various political, economic and social scandals in Burkina Faso during that period, notably the investigation of the death of David Ouédraogo, the chauffeur of Francois Compaoré, brother of the President of Faso and Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic”. 5. The Applicants state that, “as the chauffeur and employee of Francois Compaoré, David Ouédraogo died on 18 January 1998 at the Health Centre of the Presidency in a a 3 e ©