First modification:
In what is considered a historic trial that would end more than 30 years of impunity, this April 6 a military court sentenced three men to life in prison for the murder of the then president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, which occurred in 1987. Those sentenced include the country’s former president, Blaise Compaoré, who succeeded the murdered leader in the Executive.
34 years passed to know the sentence for the assassination of Thomas Sankara, considered by some as the African ‘Che Guevara’.
For the assassination of the former president of Burkina Faso, who governed between 1984 and 1987, three of the main accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The most recognized face of those who received the maximum sentence is also former president Blaise Compaoré, who was his close friend and comrade-in-arms with whom Sankara perpetrated the coup that brought him to power at the age of 33.
BREAKING:
Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaoré was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment over his role in the 1987 murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, a military court ruled on Wednesday —France24 pic.twitter.com/8kbQIlW1cd— Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) (@rbarwanda) April 6, 2022
The sentence was issued on April 6 by a military court in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital. However, Compaoré and his former head of security, Hyacinthe Kafando, who have previously denied any involvement in the events, were tried in absentia because they are in exile.
“The court finds Blaise Compaoré and Hyacinthe Kafando guilty of assault on state security, complicity in murder and concealment of a body,” the ruling said.
The third sentenced to life deprivation of liberty, General Gilbert Diendéré, is already serving a 20-year prison sentence after leading the coup attempt in September 2015.
Nine other men received sentences of between 9 and 20 years in prison. And two more of the defendants were found not guilty.
Thomas Sankara, African hero
Born into a Christian family on December 21, 1949 in the town of Yako, about a hundred kilometers from Ouagadougou, there are those who describe him as a charismatic Marxist revolutionary.
As an admirer of the Cuban revolution, he was inspired by figures such as the then president of the island, Fidel Castro, or the late Cuban nationalized Argentine guerrilla and politician, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. And although he did not know the Argentine rebel, Sankara has been considered the African ‘Che Guevara’ because of his ideological similarities.
Sankara followed in his father’s footsteps and began a military career in Madagascar when he was 19 years old. In 1972 he returned to his country, where he fought in the border war between Burkina Faso, then Upper Volta, and Mali.
Four years later, in 1976, he met Blaise Compaoré in Morocco, who became his close friend and partner in struggle with whom on August 4, 1983 he perpetrated the coup that brought him to power.
Sankara assumed the Executive with the promise of frustrating corruption and post-colonial influences, denouncing foreign aid as a control mechanism. He launched mass vaccination against polio, banned female circumcision and polygamy, and was one of the first African leaders to publicly acknowledge the growing AIDS epidemic as a threat to the continent.
The former fighter pilot also won public support in the impoverished nation by selling off a fleet of government Mercedes Benzes, cutting public servants’ pay and banning state travel in first class. He cut his own salary, refused to work with air conditioning, and trotted around Ouagadougou unaccompanied.
However, his critics point out that his reforms curtailed freedoms and did little to enrich ordinary citizens. For others, the admiration remains. Over the weekend, groups of students gathered around white flowers marking the spot where Sankara was shot.
Sankara was assassinated in the West African nation’s capital, aged 37.
The investigation into his murder was blocked for years by Compaoré, who replaced him as head of state until October 2014, when he was deposed in another coup and amid strong protests after trying to change the Constitution to perpetuate himself in power. He then went into exile in neighboring Ivory Coast, where he is believed to still live.
With Reuters and EFE
#Life #sentence #President #Compaoré #murder #Thomas #Sankara