Burkina Faso’s military court issued an international arrest warrant on Monday for former president Blaise Compaore [Britannica profile] for the assassination of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara. Sankara [BBC profile] was killed along with 12 of his supporters during a 1987 coup that brought Compaore to power. Compaore resigned in October 2014 [BBC report] after a military takeover and protests against his plan to issue a constitutional amendment that would extend his 27-year term.The warrant [AP report] for Compaore’s arrest was a result of an investigation opened in 2014. Compaore has denied involvement in the assassination of Sankara and currently lives in exile in Ivory Coast.

Burkina Faso’s government has been the subject of intense upheaval for the past few years. Earlier this month Prosecutor Col. Sita Sangare announced [JURIST report] charged filed against General Gilbert Diendere for complicity in the assassination of Sankara. Sangare said that he has charged 23 people [Reuters report] so far with charges ranging from murder and concealing the bodies of the dead to threatening state security and fraud in relation to a September coup where at least 11 people were killed and more than 250 injured. In October the interim government said that Diendere would face a military tribunal after he was apprehended for his role the week-long military coup and was later charged [JURIST reports] with crimes against humanity. In August Burkina Faso’s constitutional court rejected [JURIST report] a presidential candidate from Compaore’s Congress for Democracy and Progress Party, which marked the sixth time a candidate from that party had been rejected. In January Amnesty International urged the national government to investigate [JURIST report] excessive use of military force against anti-government protesters when Compaore exited from power.