A Burkina Faso military tribunal has sentenced ex-President Blaise Compaore to life imprisonment for complicity in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987 and for undermining state security.
Compaore was tried in absentia as he has been in exile in Ivory Coast since he was toppled from power by a popular uprising in 2014.
There were gasps in the packed courtroom when the verdict of life imprisonment for Compaore was announced, with Sankara's supporters shaking hands, pumping fists in the air and chanting. The long-awaited trial, nearly 35 years after Sankara and 12 other people were killed, was hailed by many rights activists as a major step for justice in Burkina Faso.
Sankara came to power in 1983 at the age of 33 after he and Compaore led a leftist coup that overthrew a moderate military faction. But in 1987 Compaore turned on his former friend in a coup in which he seized power and then ruled the country with an iron fist for 27 years before being ousted in an uprising.
Even though it's unlikely Compaore will go to prison, many people in Burkina Faso felt his conviction was a victory.
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