Burkina Faso tribunal sentences ex-leader Compaore to life

A Burkina Faso military tribunal has sentenced ex-President Blaise Compaore to life imprisonment for complicity in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987 and for undermining state security.Compaore was tried in absentia as he has been in exile in Ivory Coast since he was toppled from power in 2014.Compaores right-hand man Gilbert Diendere and former spy chief Tousma Yacinthe Kafando were also given life sentences.

A Burkina Faso military tribunal has sentenced ex-President Blaise Compaore to life imprisonment for complicity in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987 and for undermining state security.

Compaore was tried in absentia as he has been in exile in Ivory Coast since he was toppled from power in 2014.

Compaore's right-hand man Gilbert Diendere and former spy chief Tousma Yacinthe Kafando were also given life sentences. Diendere is already serving a prison sentence for an attempted coup in 2015 and Kafando is at large.

Fourteen people were charged for Sankara's killing in the trial which began in October. Eight other people were found guilty of a range of charges including giving false testimonies and complicity in undermining state security. Three were found not guilty including the doctor accused of forging Sankara's death certificate to say he died of natural causes.

There was a collective gasp in the packed courtroom when Compaore's conviction was announced. Seated near the front, Sankara's widow Mariam Sankara told The Associated Press that justice had been served.

“The judges have done their jobs and I am satisfied. Of course, I wished the main suspects would be here before the judges,” she said. “It is not good that people kill other people and stop the process of development of a country without being punished.” Sankara, a charismatic Marxist leader with a reputation as Africa's Che Guevara, has had a lasting impact on the country, changing its name from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means “land of honest men” in the local Moore and Dioula languages.

Sankara's rule was marked by a socialist agenda of nationalisations and his government outlawed female genital mutilation, polygamy and forced marriages. He was outspokenly critical of Western powers and continues to be highly regarded among many Africans, including intellectuals and academics.

Sankara came to power in 1983 at the age of 33 after he and Compaore led a leftist coup that overthrew a moderate military faction. But in 1987 Compaore turned on his former friend in a coup in which he seized power and then ruled the country with an iron fist for 27 years before being ousted in an uprising.