Emmanuel Zoungrana is a former military officer of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. He graduated from Prytanée militaire du Kadiogo (PMK), which trains officers of the Burkinabe army. He was the commander of the 12th infantry commando regiment.

Education

He enrolled at the

Kadiogo Kadiogo is a province of Burkina Faso, located in its Centre Region. Its area is of 2,805 km2, containing six departments and a population of 3,032,668 (2019). Its capital is also the state capital, Ouagadougou. It features the central plate ...

military school in 1993. In 2000, he obtained a baccalaureate with a philosophy option, then joined the Togo Cadet Officers School, from which he graduated as a lieutenant in 2003. He then turned to commando training. He took courses in several countries like

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. At the end of his training, he ended up leading the 25th parachute commando regiment.

Arrest

Arrested by the National Gendarmerie on January 10, 2022, he was suspected of preparing a coup d'Etat against former President

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (; born 25 April 1957) is a Burkinabé banker and politician who served as the President of Burkina Faso from 2015 until he was deposed in 2022. He was the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso between 1994 and 1996 and Pre ...

. In the beginning of February 2022, the military court of

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...

annulled the decision to detain Zoungrana. On January 11, 2022. the Military Prosecutor's Office informed that eight soldiers were also arrested in connection with a project to "destabilize the institutions". This wave of arrests of military officers occurred in a context of popular discontent, insecurity crisis, and fears from the government that the army would prepare a power grab.

Trial

The trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana opened on September 22, 2022 on the request for provisional release submitted by the prisoner's counsel. It has been postponed to 27 October 2022 for deliberation. He is prosecuted for five charges including undermining state security and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

. Lieutenant-Colonel Zoungrana was provisionally released for the undermining of state security charges but not for the money laundering charges. His lawyers brought the matter before the highest court in the country to rule on the request for provisional release not granted to their Zoungrana by the military justice system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zoungrana, Emmanuel Living people People from Ouagadougou Burkinabé military personnel 20th-century Burkinabé people 21st-century Burkinabé people Year of birth missing (living people)