After a trial that began on October 11, 2021, Burkina Faso's former President Blaise Compaore was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987.
General Gilbert Diendere and Hyacinthe Kafando, a Security Chief, were also sentenced to life in jail by the tribunal on Wednesday.
As per o the Xinhua news , Compaore, who lives in exile in Cote d'Ivoire after being overthrown by popular protests in 2014, and Kafando, who has been on the run since 2016, were tried in absentia.
Eight other accused were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to twenty years. Three defendants were found not guilty. They were charged with a variety of offences, including attacks on state security, assassination, and corpse concealment.
On August 4, 1983, Thomas Sankara seized control in Burkina Faso as part of a military revolution that changed the country's name from Haute Volta (Upper Volta) to Burkina Faso. Sankara was assassinated on October 15, 1987, in a coup that brought Blaise Compaore, a key member of the military revolution, to power.
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