Burkina Faso authorities accused of secretly detaining and abusing a journalist in a hidden facility

On May 6, 2026

An investigative journalist in Burkina Faso has been secretly detained and abused alongside dozens of others in an improvised holding site in the capital, according to fresh allegations from Reporters Without Borders, pointing to an intensifying clampdown on dissent under the country’s military rulers.

The group says Atiana Serge Oulon, who heads the newspaper L’Evenement, was seized from his home in June 2024 by armed men dressed in civilian clothing. Authorities later claimed he had been drafted into military service, a justification the organization disputes.

Accounts gathered from former detainees paint a different picture. They say Oulon was instead confined in a heavily guarded residence in Ouagadougou, where as many as 40 people were being held as of late 2025. The testimonies describe harsh conditions, including sleeping on bare floors, drinking water from toilets, and enduring beatings from guards using ropes and tree branches.

Oulon’s whereabouts remain unknown. Reporters Without Borders said it presented its findings to the authorities in Burkina Faso but received no response.

The organization believes the journalist became a target in 2022 after publishing an investigation accusing an army captain of embezzlement, and it is now demanding his immediate release.

It also alleges that figures close to junta leader Ibrahim Traoré are directly linked to the detentions. According to witnesses, a security officer attached to the captain personally addressed detainees before they were freed, warning them against speaking publicly about their experiences.

Since taking power in a 2022 coup, the junta has tightened its grip on critics and the media, shutting down independent outlets and forcing perceived opponents into military service to support operations against Islamist insurgents.

In a separate April report, Human Rights Watch said the authorities under Traoré have widened the crackdown, creating “an atmosphere of terror and severely restricting the flow of information.”

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