The hearing in the “charbon fin” (“fine coal”) case opened on 3 October 2023 at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Ouaga I. The hearing was postponed until 5 October 2023 to allow the appearance of 4 key witnesses.
At the start of the trial, the Essakane mine’s lawyers argued that the trial could not take place without the presence of these witnesses. But for the prosecution, the trial can begin without their presence at this stage of the proceedings.
“Even if the witnesses were present, they would not be allowed to attend the proceedings in the courtroom at the current stage of the trial. Their presence is not a sine qua non for the trial to go ahead”, he asserted. The prosecution was followed by the civil party’s lawyers.
“We believe that the absence of the witnesses at this stage of the trial may prejudice their interests”, retorts the defence.
Called to the stand, the defendants argued that witnesses should be present before the trial began.
The prosecutor added that the reason for the absence of the witnesses was due to the lack of proof of notification of the summons to the witnesses. He indicated that the hearing could be suspended for a time to allow the summons to be formalised so that the trial could begin.
In the view of the defence lawyers, the public prosecutor should have referred the case back to regularise the procedural documents before the trial began, because a few hours is not enough for this regularisation. “Even once the procedural documents have been regularised, the witnesses cannot leave the country in a few hours to come to the court itself”, they added.
The case was finally adjourned until 5 October to allow the absent witnesses to appear.
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