Among those detained were the transitional President Michel Kafando, Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida (who was also the former deputy commander of the RSP), and numerous members of the cabinet.

[3] This transitional government was formed in the wake of the 2014 Burkinabé uprising, when a popular movement overthrew the long-time president Compaoré, who himself had come to power in a 1987 coup against the left-wing leader Thomas Sankara.

[5] The RSP was successful in seizing control of Ouagadougou and proclaimed the establishment of a new junta, headed by General Gilbert Diendéré, to oversee the transition to new elections.

The coup leaders denounced the transitional government's electoral law, which barred supporters of Compaoré from participating in the elections, and promised to allow all prospective candidates to run.

However, the junta failed to consolidate its authority across the country, and faced protests as well as intense pressure from regional leaders, and eventually from the regular army, to restore the transitional government.

On 14 September 2015, it was reported that a commission charged with proposing post-uprising reforms had come to the conclusion that the RSP should be dismantled and its members redeployed.

[9] Chérif Sy, President of the National Transitional Council, soon published a statement saying that dialogue was under-way between the military leadership and the "elements of the RSP" responsible for the coup, and noted that the country was in danger.

Le Balai Citoyen, a grassroots Sankarist movement heavily involved in the 2014 uprising, called for the inhabitants of Ouagadougou to gather on the Revolution Square to protest the events.

[11] On 17 September 2015, the coup leaders announced that they were dismissing Kafando, dissolving the government and the transitional legislature, and setting up a new transitional body, the National Council for Democracy (French: Conseil national pour la Démocratie – CND), to lead the country to "inclusive and peaceful elections".

[13] In other comments, he said that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on a new timetable, which would be determined through consultations with "the concerned actors, notably the political parties and civil society organisations".

Later in the day, a draft agreement was announced that would involve allowing the previously excluded candidates to participate in the election, thereby granting one of the CND's key demands.

[22] The military chief of staff, Brigadier General Pingrenoma Zagré, called on members of the RSP to lay down their arms, promising in a statement that they would not be harmed if they surrendered peacefully.

[24] Although the CND had previously announced Kafando's release, he was believed to remain under house arrest until 21 September, when he was reported to have arrived at the residence of the French ambassador.

In the first cabinet meeting afterwards, held on 25 September, the Minister of Security was dismissed and the position of head of the president's military council was abolished.

[36] Diendéré and Djibril Bassolé, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until Compaoré's ouster, were charged with a variety of crimes on 6 October: murder, attacking state security, collusion with foreign forces to destabilise internal security, causing intentional injury, and intentional destruction of property.

Bassolé, whose attempt to stand as a presidential candidate was rejected by the transitional authorities, had previously been arrested for alleged complicity in the coup, although he insisted he was innocent.

[38] Colonel Sita Sangare, the Director of Military Justice, stated on 16 October that 23 people had been charged with various crimes in connection with the coup.

[40] CDP President Eddie Komboïgo—who, like Bassolé, had been barred from standing as a presidential candidate—stayed in the United States after the failure of the coup, but he was arrested on 22 January 2016 upon returning to Burkina Faso.