The court last night symbolically awarded Sankara’s bereaved a CFA franc ($0.0016) for moral damages, but refused to amend the president’s death certificate.
The Pan-Africanist leader was assassinated on October 15, 1987 by a coup commando led by his comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaoré, who presided over the country until 2014 when he took asylum in Ivory Coast.
Sankara’s death certificate established that his death was of natural causes despite being the victim of several gunshots along with 12 other collaborators, whose orphans and widows obtained from 2.5 to 50 million CFA francs (from 4,021 to 80,435 dollars).
The sums are to be paid by each of the 11 convicted persons, whose sentences were announced on April 6. They must also cover the expenses of the foreign lawyers on the prosecution’s side.
The president of the court, Urbain Méda, also denied the restoration of the material goods stolen during the events, in particular their wedding ring and a pistol.
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