Burkinabe prosecutors seek 30 years for Compaore in murder trial | Courts News

Ex-president Blaise Compaore is accused of being the primary sponsor behind the killing of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.

Army prosecutors in Burkina Faso have requested 30 years in jail for former President Blaise Compaore over the 1987 homicide of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.

The courtroom was requested on Monday to search out him responsible in absentia of an “assault on state safety”, “concealment of a corpse” and “complicity in a homicide”.

On the request of the defence, which has but to make a plea, the trial was then suspended till March 1.

Sankara was a military captain aged 33 when he got here to energy within the Sahel state in 1983, renaming the nation the next yr from Higher Volta to Burkina Faso, which suggests “land of the sincere males”.

He enacted a string of sweeping financial and social insurance policies, together with nationalisations, public housing and a ban on feminine genital mutilation, polygamy and compelled marriages.

A Marxist-Leninist, he railed in opposition to imperialism and colonialism, usually angering Western leaders however gaining followers throughout the continent and past.

Sankara and 12 of his colleagues have been gunned down by successful squad on October 15, 1987, at a gathering of the ruling Nationwide Revolutionary Council.

Their assassination coincided with a coup that introduced Sankara’s former comrade-in-arms, Compaore, to energy. He dominated for 27 years earlier than being deposed by a preferred rebellion in 2014 and fleeing to neighbouring Ivory Coast.

Fourteen accused

Fourteen individuals stand accused within the trial, 12 of them showing in courtroom. Compaore is accused of being the primary sponsor behind the killing.

The prosecution requested 30 years in jail for the commander of Compaore’s guard, Hyacinth Kafando, who’s suspected of getting led the hit squad.

It additionally sought a 20-year sentence for Gilbert Diendere, one of many commanders of the military throughout the 1987 coup and the primary defendant current on the trial. He’s already serving a 20-year sentence over an tried navy coup in 2015.

5 different defendants are dealing with sentences starting from three to twenty years, whereas one other faces an 11-year suspended sentence.

The courtroom was requested for the acquittal of three of the accused over lack of proof, and over the statute of limitations for the ultimate two.

Days earlier than the trial opened on October 11, legal professionals for Compaore introduced he wouldn’t be attending a “political trial” flawed by irregularities, and insisted he loved immunity as a former head of state.

Burkina Faso has lengthy been burdened by silence over the assassination – throughout Compaore’s very long time in workplace, the topic was taboo – and plenty of are indignant that the killers have gone unpunished.