OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Authorities exhumed human remains Tuesday from the purported grave of Burkina Faso’s assassinated leader, nearly three decades after the Marxist revolutionary was killed during a coup in the West African country.
The family of slain President Thomas Sankara is seeking more answers about his death now that the man who overthrew Sankara back in 1987 has himself been ousted from power.
Sankara was believed to have been buried along with 12 others, though some have questioned whether the remains in the exhumed grave are his. Medical experts from Burkina Faso and France are overseeing the exhumation and will conduct DNA tests to identify the bodies.
Experts are expected to be able to also determine what kind of bullets killed Sankara and how many hit him, according to family lawyer Benewinde Sankara, who is not related to the slain leader.
The lawyer confirmed that human remains were exhumed Tuesday and that the bodies had been buried in the soil without caskets.
The first remains were found at a depth of 1½ feet and included bits of red fabric, he said.