Sankara DNA tests inconclusive
Publish date: 26 June 2017
Issue Number: 731
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Burkina Faso
A lawyer for the family of Burkina Faso's slain President Thomas Sankara says DNA tests done in Spain were inconclusive on whether remains found in a grave were his. Stanislas Sankara, who is not related to the revolutionary leader, said he would rely on ballistic and autopsy reports that earlier concluded the remains exhumed in May 2015 were Sankara's. A report on the News24 site notes that Sankara and 12 of his supporters were killed during a bloody 1987 coup that brought Blaise Compaore to power. An investigation into Sankara's death was reopened after a popular uprising forced Compaore from office in October 2014.
