Burkina Faso’s Traoré: Spies and their accomplices will face the death penalty

Burkina Faso’s military leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré warned that anyone caught spying in the country, as well as their accomplices, will face the death penalty, months after Ouagadougou cut diplomatic ties with France.

Burkina Faso’s leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré warned that spies caught in the country will face the death penalty. “If we catch a spy again, it is the death penalty that will be applied. Accomplices too, if we catch them, it is the same thing. We will not joke about this,” he said in an interview ahead of the fourth anniversary of his rise to power on September 30, 2022.

Traoré said his government keeps a “mapping of enemies” and voiced concern about foreign interference. Burkina Faso cut diplomatic relations with France on June 26, 2026, accusing Paris of “incessant activism” against its interests and of supporting “subversive networks.” In December 2023, four French nationals were detained in the country on espionage charges.

Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty in 2018 but reinstated it in 2025 for crimes including high treason, espionage and terrorism as part of reforms under Traoré’s “Progressive and Popular Revolution.” In the interview, Traoré also announced upcoming constitutional reforms.