Cape Town — Fourteen defendants who were prosecuted on October 25, 2021 for the assassination of Burkina Faso leader Thomas Sankara in a 1987 coup, will know their fate on April 6, 2022. The trial is before the Ouagadougou military court.

Twelve of the fourteen people present in court, include General Gilbert Diendéré, 61, one of the main army leaders during the coup.

Absent, however, is the main accused, former President Blaise Compaoré, now a refugee in Côte d'Ivoire since ousted by a popular uprising in 2014.

All are being prosecuted on charges that include, the attack on state security, the concealment of a corpse and for complicity in murder. The defendants entered a plea of not guilty.

Since the trial began six months ago, hundred of witnesses have been called to testify on the part they played in the coup that took place on October 15, 1987.

A soldier, Yamba Elisée Ilboudo, testified that the commando's meeting place was at Blaise Compaoré's home, from where they left to assassinate Sankara.

A planned plot

Luc Damiba, Secretary General of the International Committee of the Thomas Sankara Memorial, said that he is satisfied with the progress of the trial. "Yes, we are satisfied after 35 years of waiting for justice. The court heard about a hundred witnesses and about twenty defence force members, as well as some civilians. We learned that a plot had been hashed long before. This allowed a commando to leave the home of Blaise Compaoré and go to the presidential palace to wait for Thomas Sankara and his team", he said.