What happened to Alain Christophe Traoré, who was known as "Alino Faso" on social media? Traoré, an influencer from Burkina Faso (with 420,000 followers on Facebook) who supported the ruling junta in Ouagadougou and lived in Côte d'Ivoire, was arrested on January 10 for "conspiring with agents of a foreign state." He was found hanging using his bed sheet on Thursday, July 24, after having attempted to cut open his veins, in his cell at the Abidjan Gendarmerie School, according to Oumar Koné Braman, a prosecutor in Abidjan. Braman on Sunday evening said that it had been a suicide and announced that an investigation was underway.

This explanation was rejected by Burkina Faso's authorities, whose relations with Abidjan are extremely tense. In a statement published on Monday evening, they condemned the death as a "villainous murder" and promised that "the death of Alino Faso will not go unpunished." The communication minister and government spokesperson, Pingdwendé Gilbert Ouedraogo, added that no official notification had been made by the Ivorian authorities "regarding the death of our compatriot in detention." "Neither Alain Traoré's family, nor his lawyer, nor the embassy of Burkina Faso in Côte d'Ivoire were informed about what is being presented as a suicide," he said.

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