Ouagadougou – Military prosecutors in Burkina Faso on Tuesday requested 30 years in jail for former president Blaise Compaore over the 1987 murder of his predecessor, revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara.
It asked a court to find Compaore guilty in absentia of an “attack on state security”, “concealment of a corpse” and “complicity in a murder”, accusing him of being the main sponsor behind the killing.
Sankara and 12 of his colleagues were gunned down by a hit squad on October 15, 1987, at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council.
Their assassination coincided with a coup that brought Sankara’s former comrade-in-arms, Compaore, to power.
Compaore ruled for 27 years before being deposed by a popular uprising in 2014 and fleeing to neighbouring Ivory Coast.
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Fourteen people stand accused in the trial, 12 of them appearing in court. The large majority pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution also requested 30 years in jail for the commander of Compaore’s guard, Hyacinth Kafando, who is suspected of having led the hit squad.
It sought a 20-year sentence for Gilbert Diendere, one of the commanders of the army during the 1987 coup and the main defendant present at the trial. He is already serving a 20-year sentence over an attempted military coup in 2015.
The prosecution demanded sentences ranging from three to 20 years for five other defendants, as well as an 11-year suspended sentence for another.
It sought acquittal over lack of evidence for three of the accused, and over the statute of limitations for the final two.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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