A collective of journalists, activists and influential members of civil society in Burkina Faso, demanded on Saturday the "
immediate release
" of one of their members, accused of "
intelligence with foreign countries
".
"
On Thursday, April 27, the authorities arrested the activist Wendpouire Charles Sawadogo who had been summoned and heard by the central brigade for the fight against cybercrime (BCLCC)", writes the spokesperson
for the collective, Arouna Louré, in a communicated.
"
He would be accused of the offense of intelligence with foreign countries in order to dismiss the regime in place
," he said.
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Famous whistleblower very followed on social networks according to Arouna Louré, Wendpouire Charles Sawadogo is a member of the collective which brings together "
victims who have been the direct and individual target of numerous death threats and violence for the simple fact of having a opinion contrary
to power.
Asking the government "
to stop this pursuit of journalists, activists and opinion leaders
", the collective demanded "
the immediate release of Mr. Wendpouire Charles Sawadogo
", stressing that he "
could answer for facts that are accused in the rules before the judge
".
According to Arouna Louré, the members of the collective "
live in daily anguish and suffer fierceness, repression and harassment
", in particular through regular tracking and "
the tapping of telephones, insults, defamation, slander
”.
The organization also indicates that it has "
learned
" of a "
black list
" of members of civil society, a document which it believes will be used by the authorities to make new arrests.
On Friday, "
Les Femmes solidaires du Faso
", an organization bringing together some fifty women's associations, called on the transitional authorities to "
put an end to populism, manipulation, propaganda
".
At the end of March, other civil society organizations had expressed their concern after cases of "
kidnapping
" and "
forced enlistment
" of citizens as auxiliaries to the army in the fight against jihadism, and denounced the "
negation recurrent and systematic freedom of opinion
".
