Press release – The deliberation of the confirmation of charges hearing, published on 13 April 2021 confirms the indictment of the main accused. The case is now referred to the Military Tribunal responsible for the trial. We ask that Blaise Compaoré be extradited to Burkina Faso and that France make available to the Burkinabe courts the archives relating to the murder of Thomas Sankara.
The way is therefore open to organize the trial. However, the date has not been set. According to our latest information, the Burkinabe military justice is still wondering whether it should start with the trial of the Sankara case or the appeal of the 2015 putsch trial.
We urge justice to begin with the Sankara case. For more than 34 years, the families of the victims of October 15, 1987 have been waiting for justice to be done, for the remains of their parents’ bodies to be returned to them in order to organize their burial, and to finally be able to mourn.
The announced opening of the trial does not make us forget that the investigation into the alleged international conspiracy remains open following the disjunction operated by the Burkinabe justice between it and the events that took place in Burkina Faso.
We now know that not everything has been done on the French side to transmit “the documents produced by French administrations during the Sankara regime and after its assassination, (…) covered by national secrecy”. as promised by President Emmanuel Macron in Ouagadougou in November 2017. In particular, we request that the archives of President François Mitterrand and his cabinet, as well as those of Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister and his cabinet, covering the period before and after the assassination of Thomas Sankara, covered by the defence secret, be transmitted to the Burkinabe courts.
We urge the democratic forces and the people of Côte d’Ivoire to put pressure on their government to extradite Blaise Compaoré, who has done so much harm to their country.
This trial is a historic event of international significance. We call on the authorities to film the trial for the posterity, history, memory and education of the young people of today and tomorrow.
We thank all those who by their commitment have allowed the trial to finally take place. It is the result of a long struggle of several decades. It will allow the perpetrators of the murder of Thomas Sankara and the other victims of 15 October 1987 to be tried. This is a great step towards truth and justice.