The trial of the killers of the “pan-African icon,” Thomas Sankara will kick off Monday, October 11, before the Military Court of Ouagadougou without Blaise Compaorée and his lawyers.
Who killed Sankara? His trial, which opens next Monday, will be a landmark in the political history of Burkina Faso. Almost 34 years after the assassination of the former Burkinabe president, the military prosecutor of Burkina Faso has indicted 14 people whose prominent figures are former president Blaise Compaore who lives in exile in Cote d’Ivoire, General Gilbert Diendere who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for a coup attempt in 2015, and Hyacinthe Kafando, among others.
But this judicial drama in Burkina Faso, also known as the “Land of Honest Men,” which is keeping the country in suspense, will take place without Blaise Compaore, now a naturalized Ivorian, and his lawyers.
In a press release, the defense lawyers noted several irregularities that taint the proceedings. They denounce the holding of this trial before a military tribunal described as an “exceptional jurisdiction.”
According to the defense, the former president, overthrown in October 2014 by a popular uprising, enjoys immunity as head of state, under the constitutional law of June 11, 2012, signed by the current President Roch Kabore, then President of the National Assembly.
The lawyers of the former president note several “deficiencies” in the investigation of the case insofar as their client has never been summoned for questioning and no act has been notified to him except his final summons before the court of judgment.
In addition, Blaise Compaore’s advisors believe that the Burkinabe justice system has disregarded the cancellation by the Court of Cassation on April 28, 2016 of the international arrest warrant issued against their client, as well as the ruling of the European Court in Strasbourg which, by an unprecedented emergency measure, opposed the extradition of their client on August 6, 2021.
Based on these arguments, Blaise Compaore’s lawyers reject the Military Tribunal and remain focused on “international justice.”
Long considered a taboo subject during the years of Compaore’s rule, the “Sankara Case” resurfaced during the transition only a few months after the fall of the former Burkinabe head of state. Despite an international arrest warrant issued on March 7, 2016, Blaise Compaore, who has since become an Ivorian citizen, has never been prosecuted.
Nicknamed the African “Che” in reference to his idol “Che Guevara,” the icon of the Cuban revolution, Captain Thomas Sankara seized power at age 33 by overthrowing the regime of Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo on August 4, 1983. Under his leadership, Haute Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso, the “Land of the Honest Men.” He launched a “democratic and popular revolution” to transform his country. But the dream only lasted four years. On October 15, 1987, Thomas Sankara and 12 of his companions were shot by a commando during a meeting at the Council of the Entente (headquarters of the National Council of the Revolution).
CD/fss/abj/APA