Burkina Faso has charged Former President Blaise Compaore with the murder of his predecessor – the charismatic President Thomas Sankara.
Sankara, who was believed to be a charismatic Marxist revolutionary often called ‘Africa’s Che Guevara‘, was assassinated during a coup led by his former friend Compaore.
Compaore, who is now in exile in Ivory Coast, went on to rule Burkina Faso for 27 years before being ousted in a 2014 uprising.
The former President has previously denied any involvement in Sankara’s death.
A military tribunal on Tuesday charged Compaore with complicity in the assassination, undermining state security, and receiving cadavers, a court document sighted by Africa Today News, New York showed.
Compaore was charged alongside his former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, who was also charged with several crimes related to Sankara’s killing, including complicity in the assassination.
Diendere, who has been in prison since a failed coup in 2015, was in court to hear the charges. He will enter a plea later.
Burkina Faso issued an arrest warrant for Compaore in 2015, but Ivory Coast has declined to hand him over.
In four years as president, he became the first African leader to denounce the menace of AIDS.
He took a stand against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
He also promoted women’s rights by opposing female genital mutilation and polygamy.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK