Francois Compaore is wanted in his home country in connection with the 1998 murder of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo.
Compaore was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in October 2017 following an international arrest warrant issued by Burkina Faso’s government.
The Burkinabe government has welcomed the decision by France to extradite Francois Compaore, the brother of Burkina Faso’s former longtime president, to his home country where he is wanted in connection with the murder of prominent investigative journalist Norbert Zongo more than 20 years ago.
The Council of State, France’s highest court for cases involving public administration, rejected an appeal by Compaore’s lawyers against a previous ruling for his extradition, saying there were no constitutional or other grounds to overturn the decision.
Burkina Faso on Friday hailed the ruling as a “victory”.
“We are convinced of the validity of our demand,” said Ousseni Tamboura, the communications minister and government spokesman.
Francois Compaore is the younger brother of Blaise Compaore, who was forced to resign in 2014 in the face of mass demonstrations against an attempt to extend his 27-year rule, which had started with a coup d’etat. The former president has since been in exile in the neighboring Ivory Coast.