Sankara murder trial to begin on 11 October

The trial of former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaoré and 13 co-accused over the 1987 assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara will start on 11 October.

The trial will be conducted in public, military prosecutors in Burkina Faso’s capital Ougadougou said on Tuesday.

Compaoré was forced into exile in 2014 after he attempted to change the law to extend his rule. He currently lives in Ivory Coast and may be tried in absentia. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 2015.

In April, a Burkina Faso military tribunal indicted him for “attack on state security, complicity in murder and concealment of corpses”.

But he has always denied involvement in Sankara’s assassination.

Sankara, often called the African Che Guevara, was a hugely popular leader and has become a cult figure.

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