Where Is Blaise Compaoré?
Blaise Compaoré who lives in a large villa in the upscale Cocody-Ambassades district is been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killing of Thomas Sankara
What Happened To Blaise Compaoré?
Compaoré was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killing of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary folk hero, Thomas Sankara, when a military court ruled on Wednesday, ending a long-delayed trial that was interrupted by a coup.
Known as “African Che Guevara,” Sankara was only 33 years old when he took power in 1983 and launched a revolution that aimed to “decolonize African minds.” His legacy continues to inspire people all over Africa.
On October 15, 1987, during a conference at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou, a hit squad assassinated him and 12 of his colleagues, putting an end to the short-lived experiment.
A coup led by Sankara’s former colleague Compaoré took place at the same time as the killings.
Compaoré and his former head of security, Hyacinthe Kafando, were sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal on Wednesday for their roles in the murder of Sankara.
General Gilbert Diendéré, a key defendant in the trial and a commander in the army during the 1987 coup, was also given a life sentence.
After a public movement toppled him in 2014, prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence for Compaoré, who has been living in exile in the neighboring Ivory Coast ever since.
Prosecutors in absentia charged the former president with assaulting state security, concealing the corpse, and involvement with a murder.
After 27 years in power, Compaoré refused to reveal the truth about Sankara’s death, fueling rumors that he was behind it all. Sankara’s remains were exhumed only after he was ousted, opening the path for the long-awaited trial.
An impoverished nation with an uneasy political history, Burkina Faso is currently grappling with a jihadist insurgency that has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people and forced the country’s population of up to 1.8 million people to flee their homes.
The trial was temporarily halted on January 24 after a coup toppled Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the elected president.
After Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a new military strongman reinstated the constitution and swore an oath, it was resumed.
