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Burkina Faso indicts, jails 3 in killing of investigative journalist nearly 2 decades ago

People pass by an eternal flame lit in the national press center Norbert Zongo in Ouagadougou on November 20, 2014. The flame is burning in memory of Zongo, an investigative journalist that has been found dead in a burned vehicle on December 13, 1998, as he probed a murder that might have had links to ex-Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore's brother Francois. SIA KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – A lawyer in Burkina Faso says three former presidential guard members have been indicted and jailed for the killing of an investigative journalist in 1998.

Journalist Norbert Zongo was killed along with three others. Zongo had been investigating the death of the chauffeur who drove the brother of ex-President Blaise Compaore.

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Zongo’s family’s lawyer, Stanislas Benewende Sankara, said Saturday he expects investigators will eventually find the main person behind the murder.

Compaore stepped down in October 2014 after a popular uprising. The presidential guard loyal to him was also disbanded this year after a failed coup.

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Zongo’s case was abandoned in 2006, but the transition government reopened the case. Burkina Faso recently elected a new president.

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An avenue in the capital was named after Zongo on Saturday.

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