Burkina Faso: Ex-President Blaise Compaoré Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

Katrin Gansler / Deutsche Welle
A 5-metre (16.5-foot) statue of Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.
6 April 2022
allAfrica.com

The country's former president, Blaise Compaoré, has been sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for his participation in the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, killed with twelve of his companions during a coup d'etat in 1987. He was sentenced in absentia.

The Ouagadougou military court also sentenced the commander of its guard, Hyacinthe Kafando, and General Gilbert Diendéré, one of the army leaders during the 1987 putsch, to life imprisonment.

Blaise Compaoré has been in exile in Côte d'Ivoire since 2014 and Hyacinthe Kafando on the run since 2016. The trial began six months ago.

Translated from RFI by Allafrica's Michael Tantoh

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