For more than 20 years, Franco-Senegalese lawyer Anta Guissé has worked for the defence at international tribunals for Rwanda and Cambodia, as well as the International Criminal Court. Now she has just pleaded for victims’ families in Burkina Faso in the trial on the assassination of former president Thomas Sankara, where the verdict is expected on April 6. She talks to us about how she sees such trials for “exceptional crimes”.
Thirty-five years after the killing of President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, his supporters hope for justice. But the full truth about the murder, including any foreign role, is elusive.
In his position of authority, the former head of the Khmer Rouge shared joint culpability for the regime’s atrocities in Cambodia in the 1970s, prosecutors said Wednesday, rejecting defense arguments that he should not be held responsible. Khieu Samphan, 90, is appealing his 2018 conviction for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. He is…