#Other countries : After more than twenty years of legal proceedings, the Thomas Sankara file was emptied this Wednesday, April 6, 2022. The judges delivered their verdict by condemning the former president, Blaise Compaoré, and two of his companions, in perpetuity. Here are the reactions of the lawyers of the two parts of the lawsuit.
The military court delivered its verdict this Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Ouagadougou, after a trial that lasted 6 months. A day of deliverance for the families of the victims who had been waiting for this moment for 34 years.
“It is a day of justice. Not only elsewhere, for Thomas Sankara and his companions. It is a day of justice for all the people of Burkina Faso. We hope that this historic day will mark the beginning of a new era”, declared, on leaving the hearing, Me Prosper Farama, lawyer for the Sankara family.
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Severe sentences were also pronounced for complicity in an attack on State security and complicity in the assassination, with regard to the eight other defendants who are Idrissa Sawadogo (20 years old), Nabonswendé Ouédraogo (20 years old), Yamba Elisée Ilboudo (11 years old), Jean-Pierre Plam (10 years old), Tibo Ouédraogo (10 years old), Albert Pascal Belemlilga (5 years suspended sentence), Djakalia Deme (5 years suspended sentence), and Ninda Pascal Tondé (3 years old) .
Bossobè Traoré, Alidou Jean Christophe Diébré and Amado Kafando were acquitted.
A trial on the whole difficult according to the defense lawyers for whom the procedure did not respect all the stages.
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“In criminal matters, we ask the judge to decide according to his intimate conviction. Under these conditions, I think that if there is to criticize such a decision, it is to appeal”, launched Me Mahamadou Coulibaly, defense lawyer.
With this verdict, a long trial comes to an end. However, was the whole truth told or not on the record? Many Burkinabè are wondering. Remember that at least 100 witnesses appeared in this case. Two of the fourteen defendants, notably Blaise Compaoré and Hyacinthe Kafando, were absent throughout the trial. In accordance with the law, all defendants have fifteen days to appeal.