On July 24, 2025, Burkinabè activist and influencer Alain Christophe Traoré, known as Alino Faso, was found dead in his cell at the gendarmerie school in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where he had been held since January. The official statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, released on July 27, stated his death was a suicide by hanging, specifying that Alino Faso had used his own bedsheet after an unsuccessful attempt to cut his wrists. Authorities have launched an investigation to clarify the circumstances and causes of his death.
The incident has had a significant media impact due to both the nature of his death and his public profile. Alino Faso was a widely followed social media figure, with over 400,000 followers on Facebook. An active fundraiser for people in need, he had recently gained prominence for his explicit support of the military junta in power in Burkina Faso.
Since January 2025, he had been detained in Côte d’Ivoire on serious charges: “intelligence with agents of a foreign state,” “conspiracy against the authority of the state,” and “spreading false information intended to demoralize the population.” However, no official charges had been made public until the prosecutor’s statement was released.
The political context is sensitive, as relations between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso are extremely tense. Ivorian authorities suspected Alino Faso had ties to the “Bataillons d’intervention rapide de la communication” (Rapid Communication Intervention Battalions), a network of cyber activists accused of spreading pro-Ouagadougou propaganda. In this context, the influencer’s death raises questions about adherence to legal guarantees and detention conditions. It also highlights the political use of the internet and the ambivalent role of new forms of communication in the Sahel-Saharan region.
