“She Never Forgot Him”, How Thomas Sankara’s Wife Sought Justice for Her Husband
When Thomas Sankara was assassinated on October 15, 1987, he left behind his young wife, Mariam Sankara, and their two children.
Following his assassination, Mariam and her children were placed under house arrest by the new government. She later fled Burkina Faso and went into exile in France.
In September 1997, Mariam filed a criminal complaint in Burkina Faso seeking justice for Sankara’s assassination and the falsification of his death certificate. However, the case faced years of legal obstacles under Blaise Compaoré’s government.
Seeing little progress, she took the matter to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2002. In March 2006, the committee ruled in her family’s favour, condemning Burkina Faso’s failure to properly investigate the assassination and calling for an effective investigation and remedy.
Mariam continued campaigning for justice and keeping her husband’s memory alive. Following Compaoré’s fall from power in 2014, the investigation gained momentum. In May 2015, she returned to Burkina Faso and spent nearly eight hours giving evidence to a military judge investigating the murder.
Her efforts also helped keep international attention on the case as French authorities began handing over classified archives relating to Sankara’s death to Burkinabè investigators.
In October 2021, a military tribunal finally opened the long-awaited trial of 14 men accused in connection with the assassination.
On April 6, 2022, the court sentenced Blaise Compaoré, former security chief Hyacinthe Kafando and General Gilbert Diendéré to life imprisonment for their roles in the killing. Compaoré was tried in absentia because he remained in exile in Ivory Coast.
However, Hyacinthe Kafando remains at large, with his whereabouts still unknown, while General Gilbert Diendéré remains in prison in Burkina Faso.