Zürcher Nachrichten - Burkina prosecutors seek 30 years for ex-leader Compaore over Sankara murder

EUR -
AED 4.320459
AFN 80.55459
ALL 97.444284
AMD 449.769792
ANG 2.105467
AOA 1078.79174
ARS 1492.750644
AUD 1.788712
AWG 2.119938
AZN 2.006607
BAM 1.955685
BBD 2.367961
BDT 143.371589
BGN 1.955685
BHD 0.442074
BIF 3495.635509
BMD 1.176436
BND 1.502686
BOB 8.103525
BRL 6.542749
BSD 1.172731
BTN 101.503046
BWP 15.746076
BYN 3.837975
BYR 23058.145349
BZD 2.355762
CAD 1.611488
CDF 3398.723533
CHF 0.935084
CLF 0.028454
CLP 1114.635663
CNY 8.416191
CNH 8.430076
COP 4782.753448
CRC 592.465244
CUC 1.176436
CUP 31.175554
CVE 110.257595
CZK 24.548719
DJF 208.837749
DKK 7.463486
DOP 71.155826
DZD 152.17078
EGP 57.692558
ERN 17.64654
ETB 163.206526
FJD 2.638452
FKP 0.875201
GBP 0.875092
GEL 3.187744
GGP 0.875201
GHS 12.255177
GIP 0.875201
GMD 84.703676
GNF 10177.316462
GTQ 9.001395
GYD 245.365606
HKD 9.234299
HNL 30.709199
HRK 7.534959
HTG 153.898356
HUF 396.229505
IDR 19246.49275
ILS 3.944944
IMP 0.875201
INR 101.764713
IQD 1536.309876
IRR 49542.653233
ISK 142.19611
JEP 0.875201
JMD 187.069026
JOD 0.83409
JPY 173.808984
KES 151.521111
KGS 102.682963
KHR 4697.644562
KMF 492.364993
KPW 1058.792389
KRW 1622.536445
KWD 0.359201
KYD 0.977343
KZT 639.062511
LAK 25281.51692
LBP 105080.035729
LKR 353.849242
LRD 235.136206
LSL 20.814379
LTL 3.47371
LVL 0.711615
LYD 6.330629
MAD 10.546181
MDL 19.725843
MGA 5179.696145
MKD 61.556389
MMK 2469.84847
MNT 4220.772095
MOP 9.482044
MRU 46.805254
MUR 53.422145
MVR 18.108586
MWK 2033.580705
MXN 21.785354
MYR 4.966324
MZN 75.244803
NAD 20.814379
NGN 1796.911458
NIO 43.156735
NOK 11.920896
NPR 162.404473
NZD 1.953219
OMR 0.451863
PAB 1.172731
PEN 4.153756
PGK 4.860674
PHP 67.214474
PKR 332.333304
PLN 4.247523
PYG 8784.484679
QAR 4.274913
RON 5.067968
RSD 117.143128
RUB 93.032285
RWF 1695.200555
SAR 4.413402
SBD 9.746884
SCR 16.619884
SDG 706.442647
SEK 11.175307
SGD 1.506315
SHP 0.924494
SLE 26.999664
SLL 24669.279076
SOS 670.260681
SRD 43.132264
STD 24349.84972
STN 24.498355
SVC 10.261398
SYP 15295.772053
SZL 20.806779
THB 38.104224
TJS 11.199943
TMT 4.12929
TND 3.42377
TOP 2.755329
TRY 47.703773
TTD 7.974532
TWD 34.689541
TZS 3009.457377
UAH 49.036423
UGX 4204.753338
USD 1.176436
UYU 46.976845
UZS 14839.129498
VES 141.493955
VND 30757.918885
VUV 139.522853
WST 3.222244
XAF 655.918522
XAG 0.030822
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.179377
XCG 2.113576
XDR 0.815752
XOF 655.918522
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.462572
ZAR 20.879972
ZMK 10589.334584
ZMW 27.354395
ZWL 378.811908
  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • RBGPF

    -1.1200

    73.88

    -1.52%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    22.89

    +0.17%

  • SCS

    0.0700

    10.58

    +0.66%

  • NGG

    -0.0800

    72.15

    -0.11%

  • GSK

    -0.2600

    37.97

    -0.68%

  • CMSC

    0.0550

    22.485

    +0.24%

  • RIO

    -0.7300

    63.1

    -1.16%

  • BP

    0.0700

    32.2

    +0.22%

  • BTI

    -0.3700

    52.25

    -0.71%

  • RELX

    -0.9800

    52.73

    -1.86%

  • AZN

    -1.0200

    72.66

    -1.4%

  • BCC

    1.7100

    88.14

    +1.94%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.09

    -0.46%

  • BCE

    -0.2300

    24.2

    -0.95%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    13.2

    -0.3%

  • VOD

    -0.0900

    11.43

    -0.79%

Burkina prosecutors seek 30 years for ex-leader Compaore over Sankara murder
Burkina prosecutors seek 30 years for ex-leader Compaore over Sankara murder

Burkina prosecutors seek 30 years for ex-leader Compaore over Sankara murder

Military prosecutors on Tuesday called for a 30-year jail term against Burkina Faso's former president Blaise Compaore for the 1987 murder of his predecessor, revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara.

Text size:

The closely-followed trial is heading to a climax as the West African nation reels from its latest coup, following popular anger over jihadist attacks.

Prosecutors asked a military court in the capital Ouagadougou to find Compaore, who fled to Ivory Coast in 2014, guilty on several counts.

Accused of masterminding the assassination, Compaore is being tried in absentia on charges of attacking state security, concealing a corpse and complicity in a murder.

At the request of the defence, the trial was then adjourned until March 1.

Revered among African radicals, Sankara was an army captain aged just 33 when he came to power in a coup in 1983.

The fiery Marxist-Leninist railed against imperialism and colonialism, often angering Western leaders but gaining followers across the continent and beyond.

He and 12 colleagues were gunned down by a hit squad on October 15, 1987, at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council.

Their assassination coincided with a coup that brought Sankara's former comrade-in-arms, Compaore, to power.

Compaore ruled for 27 years before being deposed by a popular uprising in 2014 and fleeing to neighbouring Ivory Coast.

Fourteen people stand accused in the trial, 12 of them appearing in court. Most pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution also requested 30 years in jail for the commander of Compaore's presidential guard, Hyacinthe Kafando, who is suspected of having led the hit squad. He is also being tried in absentia.

It sought a 20-year sentence for Gilbert Diendere, one of the commanders of the army during the 1987 coup and the main defendant present at the trial.

He is already serving a 20-year sentence over an attempted military coup in 2015.

Mariam Sankara, the slain ex-president's wife, welcomed the prosecution's plea.

"We've been waiting for years," she said. Now "we're waiting for the final verdict."

- 'Asking for justice' -

The prosecution recounted the day Sankara was killed in its closing statement

It said that when Sankara headed to the National Revolutionary Council meeting, "his executioners were already there".

According to its version of events, after Sankara entered the meeting room, the hit squad burst in, killing his guards.

"The squad then ordered president Sankara and his colleagues to leave the room. They would then be killed one by one," the prosecution said.

The prosecution also urged prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years for five other defendants, as well as an 11-year suspended sentence for another.

It sought acquittal over lack of evidence for three of the accused, and cited the expiration of a statute of limitations for the final two.

The trial was already briefly suspended after a coup on January 24 that deposed the elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

After new military strongman Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba restored the constitution, the trial resumed last week.

Prosper Farama, the lawyer representing the Sankara family, said that, as the trial nears its end, the families were finally feeling some relief -- even though "during this trial, no-one confessed or repented. No-one!"

"We ask the court to give the families justice," he said. "We don't want revenge, we're simply asking for justice."

W.Vogt--NZN