October 11, (THEWILL) – Former Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré has said he would not be attending a long-awaited trial over the 1987 assassination of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara, which is due to start on Monday.
His lawyers said they would also boycott the proceedings, which they described as “staged” and “political.”
Compaoré has been living in Ivory Coast since 2014, when he was ousted following mass protests.
It was announced in April that he would face charges of complicity in the murder of Mr Sankara, who was assassinated on 15th October 1987.
In 2016, the Burkinabé authorities issued an international warrant for Blaise Compaoré’s arrest.
However, he now has Ivorian citizenship and his extradition is for now unlikely to happen.
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was born on 21st December 1949.
The charismatic and iconic Burkinabé military officer was a socialist revolutionary who served as the President of Burkina Faso following his 1983 coup.
