Thousands remember murdered Burkinabe journalist, 20 years on

Thousands of people demonstrated in Ouagadougou Thursday on the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Burkinabe investigative journalist Norbert Zongo.

Participants marched down the city's main thoroughfares, occasionally stopping to shout slogans calling for justice for the journalist, who was killed while investigating another murder.

The gathering, concentrated around Place de la Nation at the heart of the Burkinabe capital, was organised by two rights groups.

Last week, a French court approved the extradition of the brother of Burkina Faso's ousted leader, Blaise Compaore, to face prosecution in connection with Zongo's death.

Francois Compaore is wanted on charges of "inciting the death" of Zongo and three companions, whose charred bodies were found in a burnt-out car in the south of the country in December 1998.

Zongo's family has long accused him of having had a hand in the killings, which triggered mass protests in Burkina Faso and drew international condemnation.

Francois Compaore, brother of the deposed Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore, faces extradition from France to his homeland to face trial over the murder of Norbert Zongo. By Ahmed OUOBA (AFP/File)

Zongo, 49, was investigating the death of the chauffeur of Francois Compaore at the time of his death.

Compaore was one of the most disliked figures in the regime of his brother. President Blaise Compaore was ousted in a popular revolt in October 2014 after trying to change the constitution to extend his 27-year grip on power.

A few hours before the rally, about a hundred people including members of his family gathered to leave flowers at grave of Tongo and the three people slain with him.

Addressing a rally after the march, Guy Zongo, one of the murdered journalist's sons, described his father's killing as one of those crimes that had shaken the country's collective consciousness.

Compaore, who was arrested in Paris in October last year, could still challenge the extradition ruling by the Court of Appeal in a higher court.