After digging up the bodies of Thomas Sankara and twelve of his companions in May 2015 at the Dagoen cemetery, three experts appeared before the court on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 to determine the circumstances of the murder of the former Burkinabe president. However, the exhumed bodies were not identified despite the DNA samples because of the state of degradation of the corpses. However, identity cards and military cards found on the remains made it easier to identify the victims. The ballistics report of the experts is still extraordinary.
In the context of the 1987 trial of the murder of Burkinabé Head of State, Thomas Sankara, experts were heard on Wednesday, January 12 in court. The latter, three in front of the judge, began by specifying that the depth of the tomb of the Pan-African leader was just 45cm while for the other twelve victims, it was between 22 and 58cm.
Ballistics analysis showed that Thomas Sankara was shot several times in the chest, stomach, armpits and back. Ammunition for assault rifles such as the Kalashnikovs, machine guns and semi-automatic pistols were found in the tomb. The expert and Divisional Police Commissioner Missa Millogo, a crime scene specialist, said that in reality “there were burn marks on the clothes of President Thomas Sankara, which means the use of tracer bullets by the assailants.”
After hearing the experts, a reconstruction of the scene was projected before the accused, witnesses and families of the victims. A sad and memorable moment that traced the murder of the famous president, an outstanding advocate of Pan-Africanism, as well as that of twelve of his companions on October 15, 1987.
The next stage of the trial is scheduled for Monday, January 24, 2022 with the pleadings of the lawyers of the civil parties.
