Is Blaise Compaoré Dead or Alive?
Blaise Compaoré is Alive.
Lawyers for Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaore said he plans to boycott the upcoming trial for the 1987 assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara.
The trial for Compaore and 13 others began on Monday and will feature a wide range of allegations in connection with the killing of Sankara, a charismatic rebel dubbed “the African Che Guevara” by his admirers.
A statement from Burkina Faso and French legal teams for President Blaise Compaore on Thursday stated that he will not attend the political trial that is being staged against him at the military court in Ouagadougou.
Following his ascension to power in the Sahel state of Upper Volta in 1983, Sankara gave the country the new name Burkina Faso, which translates to “land of the honest men.”
There were several economic and social reforms, including the nationalization of the economy and the establishment of public housing.
When Compaore staged a coup in 1987, he shot and killed him at the age of 37.
Sankara’s remains were excavated from a tomb in Dagnoen, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, in 2015.
According to the widow of Sankara, an examination found that his body had been “riddled with more than a dozen bullets.”.
There is still a lot of graffiti in the capital calling for “Justice for Sankara.”
After 27 years in power, Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014 and fled to the Ivory Coast, where he became an Ivorian citizen.
It is hoped that the trial would shed light on one of Burkina Faso’s deadliest chapters.
The 71-year-old Compaore has consistently denied any involvement in the assassination of Sankara.
After he was ousted from power, a transitional administration launched an inquiry into the assassination in 2015, and a warrant was issued for his arrest the following year.
