Burkina Faso’s exiled former president, Blaise Compaore, was convicted of the murder of Thomas Sankara, the iconic African leader killed in a coup more than three decades ago.
A military tribunal found Compaore, who ruled the West African nation for 27 years until his ouster in a popular uprising in 2014, guilty of complicity in the killing of Sankara and threatening state security. It sentenced him to life in prison, according to a judgment delivered Wednesday in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Compaore, 71, lives in exile in Ivory Coast and was sentenced in absentia.
