Press Release
On March 5th, 2014, the court delayed again its decision on the identification of bodies buried at Dagnoen, in Ouagadougou. Up to when will the Burkinabe judges hearing this case continue procrastinating? Yet this is a request made in 2006 by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights following the actions of the Justice for Sankara’s International Campaign (CIJS). With this new refusal, after repeatedly dismissing the family on several other procedures related to the assassination of Thomas Sankara, the Judiciary persists in its denial of justice. However, these obstacles will not last forever, because the people of Burkina Faso have, this time around, decided to stand up and put an end to Blaise Compaoré’s decadent regime.
With 13,500 signatures already obtained (thomassankara.net/?p=876), the support of dozens of associations and political parties worldwide, we continue more than ever to demand that justice be served.
Present in Ouagadougou on that unfortunate day of October 15th, 1987, companions of Charles Taylor who has just been sentenced to a 50 year jail term by the Special Tribunal on Sierra Leone, clearly identified the CIA and France as key players in the conspiracy that led to the assassination of President Thomas Sankara.
That is why we call on:
– The US Congressmen to demand the opening of archives of that particular time in their country and launch an investigation into the possible involvement of the CIA.
– The French Members of Parliament to accept the request for a parliamentary inquiry into the assassination of Thomas Sankara, already tabled twice at the National Assembly of the French Republic, on June 20th, 2011 and October 5th, 2012.
Several letters were sent to François Hollande (French Head of State), Christiane Taubira (French Minister of Justice) and Harlem Désir (Head of the ruling party in France). They have all remained unanswered. This is unacceptable of a democracy.
In Burkina Faso, several former collaborators of Blaise Compaoré recently joined the opposition, spreading apologies for their past mistakes and expressing their readiness to testify in court.
These former ministers and leaders of CDP, the ruling party, supported this regime for 27 years. If they want to win back the trust of the people of Burkina Faso, those excuses will not suffice. We therefore urge them to participate in the search for truth by telling everything they know about the October 15th Martyrs and more generally about all the victims of the Popular Front regime as they were close collaborators of President Blaise Compaoré.
We do not want to wait any longer!
We again call on citizens, political parties and civil society organizations to intensify the campaign through fresh public initiatives.
For the truth to finally emerge on the assassination of Thomas Sankara, once again we call on:
– Journalists to carry out investigations
– Historians to undertake further research
– Documentary makers to produce new movies
– General public to turn up the heat a notch
It is time for truth and justice. Let us hasten it together!
The “Justice for Sankara, Justice for Africa” international network ‘
Done on March 5th, 2014 in Ouagadougou, Abidjan, Dakar, Paris, New York, Washington, Bamako, Lomé, Nairobi, Berlin, Bruxelles, Moscou, Turin, Ajaccio, Toulouse, Montpellier
Contact: contactjusticepoursankara at gmail.com
