Burkina Faso will open a trial on the assassination of Sankara in 1987 | New

Ex-president among 14 accused of the murder of former leader Thomas Sankara 34 years ago.

The trial of 14 men, including a former president, is due to open in Burkina Faso for the assassination of the country’s revered revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara, 34 years ago.

When the trial opens on Monday, former President Blaise Compaoré and 13 others face a slew of charges in the death of Sankara, described by his supporters as African Che Guevara.

The assassination of Sankara, an icon of Pan-Africanism, for years cast a dark shadow over the Sahel state.

Sankara and 12 other people were riddled with bullets by a commando in October 1987 during a putsch which brought to power his friend and comrade in arms Compaoré.

Compaoré will be tried in absentia by the military court of the capital Ouagadougou [Lucas Jackson/Reuters]

Compaoré ruled the country for the next 27 years before being overthrown by a popular uprising and fleeing to neighboring Côte d’Ivoire, which granted him citizenship.

He and his former right-hand man General Gilbert Diendere, who once led the elite presidential security regiment, face charges of complicity in murder, endangering state security and complicity in cover-up of corpses.

In absentia

Compaoré, who has always rejected allegations that he orchestrated the murder, will be tried in absentia by the military court in the capital, Ouagadougou.

Last week, his lawyers announced he would not attend a flawed “political trial” and insisted he had immunity as a former head of state.

Diendere, 61, is already serving a 20-year sentence for having instigated a plot in 2015 against the transitional government that followed Compaoré’s dismissal.

Another prominent figure among the defendants is Hyacinthe Kafando, a former adjutant of the presidential guard of Compaoré, who is accused of leading the killer squad. He’s on the run.

Diendere among 14 accused in Sankara murder trial [File: Theo Renaut/AP]

A young army captain and Marxist-Leninist, Sankara came to power in a coup in 1983 at just 33 years old.

He changed the name of the country of Upper Volta, a heritage from the French colonial era, to Burkina Faso, which means “the land of honest men”.

He advanced a socialist program of nationalizations and outlawed female genital mutilation, polygamy and forced marriages.

Like former Ghanaian leader Jerry Rawlings, he has become an idol in left-wing circles in Africa, praised for his radical politics and defiance of the great powers.

Burkina Faso has long been overwhelmed by silence over the assassination – during Compaoré’s long time in power, the subject was taboo – and many are angry that the killers went unpunished.

“The trial will mark the end of all lies – we will get some form of truth. But the trial will not be able to restore our dream ”, declared Halouna Traoré, comrade of Sankara and survivor of the putsch, in a television interview.