Former Burkina Faso President, Blaise Compaoré has been charged by a military tribunal on Tuesday with complicity in the assassination of Thomas Sankara, undermining state security, and receiving cadavers.
Compaoré, who was charged in absentia, had, in October 2014, resigned and fled to Ivory Coast, following protests that engulfed the country after attempting to amend the constitution that would have extended his 27-year administration.
He was part of the coup d’état that deposed Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo on August 4, 1983, and subsequently produced Thomas Sankara as president.
Compaoré masterminded the coup d’etat that toppled his close associate on October 15, 1987, resulting in the death of Sankara, which he had described as “an accident”.
Gilbert Diendere, Compaoré’s former right-hand man who was present at the court, was also charged with several crimes related to Sankara’s killing, including complicity in the assassination — he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Another Blaise Compaoré loyalist, Djibril Bassole, a former foreign minister who was accused of being the coup’s mastermind, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason.
Thomas Sankara was one of Africa’s most promising rulers who loved his country and believed in the emancipation of the African continent.
