Compaore Charged With Murder Of Thomas Sankara After Over 3 Decades

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Agency Report — Burkina Faso has charged former President Blaise Compaore with the 1987 murder of then charismatic President Thomas Sankara.

Sankara, a charismatic Marxist revolutionary often called “Africa’s Che Guevara”, was assassinated during a coup led by his former friend Compaore.

Compaore, now in exile in Ivory Coast, went on to rule Burkina Faso for 27 years before being ousted in a 2014 uprising.

He has previously denied any involvement in Sankara’s death.

A military tribunal on Tuesday charged Compaore with complicity in the assassination, undermining state security and receiving cadavers, a court document seen by Reuters showed.

Compaore’s former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, was also charged with several crimes related to Sankara’s killing, including complicity in the assassination.

Diendere, who has been in prison since a failed coup in 2015, was in court to hear the charges. He will enter a plea later.

Burkina Faso issued an arrest warrant for Compaore in 2015, but Ivory Coast has declined to hand him over.

Sankara, who seized power in a 1983 coup at the age of 33, was known for his trademark military fatigues and red beret and rejection of a lavish lifestyle.

In four years as president, he became the first African leader to denounce the menace of AIDS.

He took a stand against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

He also promoted women’s rights by opposing female genital mutilation and polygamy.

'Dotun Akintomide
'Dotun Akintomide
'Dotun Akintomide's journalism works intersect business, environment, politics and developmental issues. Among a number of local and international publications, his work has appeared in the New York Times. He's a winner of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Award. Currently, the Online Editor at The New Diplomat, Akintomide has produced reports that uniquely spoke to Nigeria's experience on Climate Change issues. When Akintomide is not writing, volunteering or working on a media project, you can find him seeing beautiful sites like the sandy beaches that bedecked the Lagos coastline.

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