CCPR/C/86/D/1159/2003 page 13 6.9 As to the State party’s argument about the allegedly political character of the complaint, the Committee considered that this in no way affected the admissibility of the communication and, in fact, fell within the scope of the examination of the communication on the merits. 6.10 Regarding the complaints of violations of articles 17 and 23 of the Covenant, the Committee considered that the authors’ allegations concerning the consequences, where their protection in particular was concerned, of the failure to conduct an inquiry into the death of Thomas Sankara and to identify those responsible did not fall within the scope of the articles mentioned, but did raise issues with respect to article 723 and article 9, paragraph 1,24 of the Covenant. 6.11 Concerning the complaint of a violation of article 16 of the Covenant, the Committee considered that the authors’ allegations did not fall within the scope of this article, but might raise issues with regard to article 14, paragraph 1. 6.12 On the question of the complaints under article 14, paragraph 1, and article 26 of the Covenant (cf. para. 3.1), the Committee considered that these allegations had been sufficiently substantiated for purposes of admissibility. The Human Rights Committee therefore decided that the communication was admissible under articles 7, 9, paragraph 1, 14, paragraph 1, and 26 of the Covenant. State party’s observations on the merits 7.1 On 27 September 2004, the State party forwarded its observations on the merits. It considers that in its decision on admissibility, the Committee, by recharacterizing some of the authors’ allegations, prejudged its decision on the merits and ignored the principle of the presumption of innocence. The State party reiterates that the use of domestic remedies by the author was characterized by wilful omissions which constitute an abuse of the procedure under the Optional Protocol. 7.2 Concerning the allegation under article 2, paragraph 1, and article 26 of the Covenant, the State party considers that the authors have not demonstrated that the Sankara family suffered discrimination because of their political views. The authors cannot cite their lack of success in the judicial proceedings as evidence of such discrimination since they are not active in any political party in Burkina Faso, do not live there and play no direct part in national political life. In any event, in the view of the State party, the authors cannot validly claim a violation of article 2, paragraph 1, of the Covenant because at the time the Covenant and the Optional Protocol entered into force for Burkina Faso in April 1999, the State party could no longer legally institute an investigation into the death of Thomas Sankara. The State party maintains that, since all legal action regarding this matter has been time-barred since 15 October 1997, no continuing violation of the Covenant can be alleged, unless it were to be considered that domestic law became invalid on the entry into force of the Covenant for Burkina Faso, which is not the case. 7.3 With regard to the alleged violation of article 2, paragraph 3, of the Covenant, the State party considers that the Committee has indicated a preference for contentious remedies