THE SANKARA AFFAIR:
5 YEARS AFTER THE COMPAORÉ REGIME DERAILED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS INSIDE BURKINA FASO,
LAWYERS IN CANADA LEAD CAMPAIGN TO SUBMIT COMPLAINT TO THE UNITED NATIONS

October 14th, 2002

The Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA), which coordinates the International Justice for Sankara Campaign, invites you to a press conference to mark a unique event for Africa and the international community. A complaint, prepared by the Canadian contingent of lawyers involved in the Campaign, will be filed with the United Nations.

This is the first time in Africa that an international collective of lawyers has exhausted national recourses and is bringing its case before an international court for the assassination of a former head of state. The complaint coincides with the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Sankara, the first President of Burkina Faso, and is brought on behalf of his widow, Mariam Sankara, and his two sons, Auguste and Philippe.

In the absence of any move to investigate the assassination of Thomas Sankara by authorities in Burkina Faso, the International Justice for Sankara Campaign initiated proceedings before the courts of Burkina Faso to bring the perpetrators to justice in 1997. The current regime of President Blaise Compaoré has effectively obstructed all means by which to investigate this matter.

To this day, Thomas Sankara's death certificate still states that he died of "natural causes."

Thomas Sankara was a panafricanist and an internationalist. He strove for self-directed and sustainable development that prioritized women, peasants and the poor, where social justice would be the bulwark of a new, truly decolonized Burkina Faso. In the present era of dehumanizing globalization, his example and contribution to a development defined by honesty and accountability should serve to remind us that there are alternatives.

The surviving members of the Sankara family, and other victims of the impunity authored by the Compaoré regime, are hoping that the International Justice for Sankara Campaign will draw the attention and solidarity of the international community. GRILA hopes that this campaign will contribute to halting the cycle of impunity that has taken the lives of panafricanists like Lumumba, Cabral and Sankara, and that the UN system will be able to deliver a measure of justice.

The Canadian legal team will address the internationalization
of its legal campaign at a press conference on
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2002, 11:00 a.m.,
AT RIGHTS & DEMOCRACY, 1001 DE MAISONNEUVE EAST, 11TH FLOOR
Information: 514.277.4183