Compaoré to boycott Sankara murder trial

By Will Ross

Burkina Faso's exiled former President Blaise Compaoré has said he won't attend a long-awaited trial over the 1987 assassination of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara, which is due to start on Monday.

His lawyers said they would also boycott the proceedings, which they described as "staged" and "political".

Mr Compaoré has been living in Ivory Coast since 2014, when he was ousted following mass protests.

It was announced in April that he would face charges of complicity in the murder of Mr Sankara.

In 2016 the Burkinabé authorities issued an international warrant for Blaise Compaoré’s arrest.

However he now has Ivorian citizenship and his extradition is for now unlikely to happen.

This article originally appeared in BBC News.

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