Former president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, on Wednesday bagged a life sentence by a military tribunal.
Compaoré, who ruled Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014, was sentenced by a military tribunal for murder of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.
Compaoré ruled for 27 years before he was ousted in a 2014 coup following his attempt to amend the constitution to extend his tenure.
Along side twelve others, Compaoré was accused of attack on “state security, complicity in murder and concealment of a corpse.”
Also, Compaoré’s former head of security, Hyacinthe Kafando, was sentenced to life imprisonment and like his boss was tried and sentenced in abscential.
All the defendants, including Compaoré and Kfando have previously denied any involvement in Sankara’s death.
Three of the defendants were declared innocent by the court.
It would be recalled that Sankara was assassinated in a coup led by Compaoré on October 15, 1987.
He was gunned down in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, at the age of 39, four years after he took power through a coup.
Sankara’s promise to thwart corruption and post-colonial influences and his program denouncing foreign aid as a control mechanism were cut short by the coup
During Sankara’s time in office, he won public support for his efforts to improve the economy and his promotion of policies to reduce excessive spending by public officials.
