Burkina Faso: Murder Accused Compaore Chooses to Stay Away for Thomas Sankara Trial

L'Observateur Paalga
Thomas Sankara (file photo)
8 October 2021
allAfrica.com

Cape Town — The main defendant in the long-awaited trial on the 1987 assassination of Thomas Sankara and former president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, will not be present at the trial when it opens on October 11, 2021,  Burkinabe and French attorneys for Compaore said.

Al-Jazeera reported that the lawyers said the proceedings are "political", and the 70-year-old former leader continually denies being involved.

Sankara was assassinated four years after taking power in a coup led by Compaore, who now lives in  Cote d'Ivoire, where he fled after he was ousted in 2014 during a popular uprising.

Compaore will be judged in absentia.

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