Burkina to open trial of alleged killers of left-wing idol SankaraFormer president Blaise Compaore is one of 14 men accused of assassinating Burkina Faso's revolutionary hero, Thomas SankaraOUAGADOUGOU - The trial of 14 men, including a former president, was set to begin in Burkina Faso on Monday over the assassination of the country's revered revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara 34 years ago. He and his former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, who once headed the elite Presidential Security Regiment, face charges of complicity in murder, harming state security and complicity in the concealment of corpses. He tossed out the country's name of Upper Volta, a legacy of the French colonial era, and renamed it Burkina Faso, which means "the land of honest men". Burkina Faso has long been burdened by silence over the assassination -- during Compaore's long time in office, the subject was taboo -- and many are angry that the killers have gone unpunished. But the trial will not be able to restore our dream," Halouna Traore, a comrade of Sankara and survivor of the putsch, said in a TV interview.

Source: Bangkok Post October 11, 2021 04:18 UTC