Sankara's family wants ex-President Compaoré arrested
The family lawyers of Burkina Faso's independence hero, Thomas Sankara, have called on the judiciary to arrest former President Blaise Compaoré, who is expected to return home from exile on Friday.
Mr Compaoré, in exile since his ouster in 2014, was in April handed down a life sentence over the 1987 assassination of Sankara.
The demand by Sankara’s lawyers came after the Burkina Faso government announced that Mr Compaoré will be among the former heads of state holding talks with military junta on Friday “as part of efforts to accelerate the question of reconciliation”.
It is unclear whether Mr Compaoré will be subjected to a judicial process.
However, the government said that the upcoming meetings between the junta and ex-leaders “does not hinder the legal proceedings initiated against some of them".
The news comes three months after a court sentenced Compaoré to a life sentence for his role in the assassination of his charismatic predecessor, Thomas Sankara in 1987.
The pair had been close friends and jointly seized power in 1983.
Sankara remains a hero for many across Africa because of his anti-imperialist stance and austere lifestyle.
After seizing power at the age of just 33, the Marxist revolutionary, known by some as "Africa's Che Guevara", campaigned against corruption and oversaw huge increases in education and health spending.
Compaoré has been living in exile in Ivory Coast since he was ousted in 2014.
Source: BBC
