Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

After over thirty years of struggle and patience, the trial of the assassins of Thomas Sankara and his fellow victims will open on 11 October in Ouagadougou. For The International Justice Network for Thomas Sankara and his companions, justice for Africa this is a great satisfaction.

Blaise Compaoré’s lawyers have decided to disrupt the proceedings. They have just announced that they will boycott the trial. [1] Mr Pierre Olivier Sur, one of François Compaoré’s lawyers, does not hesitate to tell blatant lies. [2]

Their strategy consists solely of discrediting Burkinabe justice. M. Sur, tries to influence public opinion by unscrupulously using insults and contempt for the people of Burkina Faso and its institutions. [3]

For our part, we complement the work and courage of Judge François Yaméogo, rigorous as well as tenacious, who leads the investigation and has in particular launched an international warrant towards France and requested the opening of officially secret documents.

We remind French President Emmanuel Macron of his promise made in Ouagadougou in 2017 to declassify and effectively make available, to the Burkinabe justice system, all documents related to the Sankara assassination case.

There is a risk that the international side of the case will remain unfinished, since, after the severance of the two aspects, only the investigation into the national side of the case has been completed. In view of the new elements entered into the case, in particular the arrival of French nationals on 16 October 1987 to clean up the evidence of telephone tapping, we urge the lawyers of the civilian victims to ensure that the Court still brings up this aspect of the case

It is crucial to establish who these people are and who sent them. To do this, the international warrant to France could be re-launched or a new one initiated to shed light on these grey areas. It seems that these wiretaps could indicate the level of involvement of Blaise Compaoré and Jean Pierre Palm in the plot to assassinate Thomas Sankara and his fellow victims.

We urge the new judge in charge of the international inquiry to pursue the investigation to the end and in particular to continue to ask France to effectively provide the documents classified as secrets, and the countries suspected of being involved to collaborate in the investigation.

In particular, mobilisation in these countries must continue, especially France, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Libya and the USA.

Signed in Ouagadougou, Paris, Niamey, Dakar, Bamako, New York, Toronto, Las Palmas, , Turin, Albany, Sabadell (Catalogne), Bobo Dioulasso, Montpellier, Banfora, Toulouse, Ajaccio

The International Justice Network for Thomas Sankara and his companions, justice for Africa
Contact ; contactjusticepoursankara at gmail.com