Former president Compaor sentenced to life in Sankara trial

Burkinabe prosecutors sought 30 years for Compaoré over Sankara murder but a Ougadougou court sentenced him to life in prison on Wednesday.

© Francois Mori/AP President Blaise Compaoré speaks to the media after a meeting with France's President Francois Hollande in Paris in 2012.

Former president Blaise Compaoré was sentenced to life in prison over Sankara murder on Wenesday. The verdict comes 6 months after the trial of 14 accused (including Compaoré) in the assassination of Burkina Faso's revered panafrican leader started.

Prosecutors had asked the military court to find Mr Compaoré guilty in absentia of an "attack on state security", "concealment of a corpse" and "complicity in a murder", accusing him of being the main sponsor behind the killing of Sankara and 12 of his colleagues.

Hyacinth Kafando who is suspected of having led the commando that murdered Thomas Sankara and his companions as well as Gilbert Dienderé one of the army commanders during the 1987 coup Halso get life imprisonment sentence.

Gilbert Dienderé is already serving a 20-year sentence over an attempted military coup in 2015 and was the only defendent still in Burkina Faso.

Blaise Compaoré is in exile in Ivory Coast whereas Hyacinth Kafando's whereabouts are still unknown.