Burkina Faso | Ex-president of Burkina Faso gets a lifetime of involvement in the assassination of his predecessor, Che Guevara of Africa

Burkina Fason former president Blaise Compaoré has been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for the involvement of his predecessor Thomas Sankaran to murder.

The war crimes tribunal ruled on Wednesday about the murder that took place during the October 1987 coup in Burkina Faso, according to news agencies Reuters and AFP.

Known as a charismatic Marxist leader, Sankara was shot dead in the capital, Ouagadougou, at just 37 years old.

In the court ruling, Compaorén was found guilty of attacking state security, complicity in murder and concealment of the body. Two Compaoré allies, an officer, were also sentenced to life Hyacinthe Kafando and General Gilbert Diendere.

All three have denied the charges. Eleven others were also charged with complicity in the murder. Three of them were found innocent and the rest were jailed for 3 to 20 years.

Compaoré ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years until he was ousted in a new coup in 2014. After that, Compaoré fled to Côte d’Ivoire, where he is still believed to be.

President Thomas Sankara became known as “African Che Guevarana, Who promised to put an end to corruption and the post-colonial effects. Among other things, he considered foreign aid to be a management mechanism.

Sankara, who had been in power for four years, carried out mass vaccinations against polio in Burkina Faso and banned female genital mutilation. He also denied polygamy and was one of the first African leaders to publicly acknowledge the threat of an AIDS epidemic.

Critics say Sankara’s reforms restricted people’s freedom and did not prosper ordinary people. However, the hero is still admired in the country and his family and supporters have been waiting for justice for decades.

“I think the people of Burkina Faso now know who Thomas Sankara was, what he wanted and also what the people who assassinated him wanted,” the president’s widow Mariam Sankara said at trial.

“This is what we asked for – justice and truth.”