Decades On, Ex-Leader of Burkina Faso Convicted in Killing of Predecessor

A navy tribunal in Burkina Faso convicted in absentia a former president, Blaise Compaoré, and sentenced him on Wednesday to life imprisonment for his function within the assassination of his predecessor in 1987.

Mr. Compaoré, who lives in exile in Ivory Coast and refused to take part within the trial, was not current for the decision — the climax of a much-anticipated try and ship justice for certainly one of Africa’s most notorious political assassinations.

His predecessor, Thomas Sankara, a firebrand Marxist revolutionary whose principled rule and defiance of the West earned him adulation throughout Africa, was gunned down by troopers within the capital, Ouagadougou, in October 1987 as a part of the navy coup that introduced Mr. Compaoré, a longtime good friend, to energy.

Mr. Compaoré went on to rule Burkina Faso with an iron fist till 2014, when common protests pressured him to flee to Ivory Coast with the assistance of French troopers. He suppressed any dialogue of Mr. Sankara’s demise for years, and he at all times denied any function in it.

The navy tribunal had been carried out in a closely protected courthouse since October, listening to evident proof towards Mr. Compaoré and 13 different males, largely former troopers and their commanders. Twelve different individuals had been killed alongside Mr. Sankara, largely aides who had been assembly with him when troopers turned up outdoors their door.

The authorized proceedings had been briefly delayed in late January after the navy seized energy within the landlocked West African nation, the newest of a number of navy coups for the reason that nation’s independence from France in 1960.

The tribunal additionally delivered a sentence of life imprisonment towards Hyacinthe Kafando, Mr. Compaoré’s former head of safety, and Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, a senior military commander on the time of the assassination.

Like Mr. Compaoré, Mr. Kafando was not current for the decision, having fled into hiding years in the past. Mr. Diendéré has been in jail since 2015 for his half in a failed coup following the ouster of Mr. Compaoré a 12 months earlier.

Of the opposite accused males, eight had been sentenced to between three and 20 years of imprisonment by the tribunal, and three had been acquitted.