The soldier Yamba Elisé Ilboudo, first of the accused to express himself, reported on October 15, 1987, during which Thomas Sankara and twelve of his companions were killed.
Le Monde with AFP
First of the accused to express himself before the Ouagadougou military court, capital of Burkina Faso, who judges the assassins alleged from the “Father of the Burkinabe Revolution” Thomas Sankara in 1987, a soldier recognized Tuesday, October 26 the facts. “Attack on state security” and told the details of the assassination.
This soldier, Yamba Elisélélélél, reported that on October 15, 1987, the day of the coup in which Thomas Sankara and twelve of his companions were killed, he was “at the home of Blaise Compaoré”, worn in power by the putsch.
It’s Mr. Compaoré that “Hyacinthe Kafando, who commanded us as a head of security, asked me to start a vehicle to go to the Council of the Agreement,” the Headquarters of the National Council of The revolution where the killing occurred, he said.
Arrived on the spot, Hyacinthe Kafando and “Maïga, who drove him the vehicle of Blaise Compaoré, came down and shot in disorder,” said the first class soldier, now 62 years old, without indicating the first name of the latter.
“Hands in the air and without weapons”
He who claims to have remained in his vehicle, without shooting, then tells the details of the assassination. After the first shots, he saw Thomas Sankara “get out of the meeting room, his hands in the air, ask what’s going on”.
“It’s Hyacinthe Kafando and Maïga who crossed it. I do not know who fired on President Sankara. He fell on his knees before switching to the left side”, A-T- He added.
He acknowledged the facts of “complicity of attack to state security”, but denied premeditation, assuring that they have not participated in a preparatory meeting for these events. “I did not know that we were leaving a coup, more reason to remove someone’s life,” he said.
“They shotly slaughtered President Sankara who came out his hands in the air and without arms”, for his side declared M e Ferdinand Nzapa, the lawyer of the Sankara family, Believing that it was the “only accused to be very cooperative”.
Before the start of the interrogation, the court listened to the 1987 audio and video files in which Blaise Compaore justifies the events of this October 15, resulting in it “fundamental differences born for a year on operational issues. of the revolutionary process “.
” Need for rectification “
In one of the files, Blaise Compaoré, who had participated in 1983 at the coup in the power Thomas Sankara whose intimate friend he was present as a “traitor to the revolution which led an autocratic power. “And” staff “. “The other comrades had decided to dismiss it” or to force him to “resign”, he adds, justifying the “need for a rectification”.
Straight arms of Thomas Sankara, Blaise Compaoré has always denied having sponsored the assassination. Twelve of the fourteen accused are present, including General Gilbert, 61, one of the main leaders of the army during the 1987 putsch.
But Blaise Compaore, who lives in Ivory Coast, is absent, just like the former Chief Warrant Officer Hyacinthe Kafando, on the run. Blaise Compaoré, driven out of power in 2014 by the street, is accused of “complicity of murderers”, “concept of corpses” and “attack on state security”.
Tuesday, the Tribunal has acceded to a request by the defense lawyers, requesting the release of the accused who had been wholly imprisoned with the opening of the trial. Eleven of them will benefit from this temporary freedom. Only General Diendéréré is held in detention because he already serves a twenty years of prison for a coup attempt in 2015.