A Burkina Faso military tribunal has charged former President Blaise Compaore with complicity in the murder of Thomas Sankara, whom he ousted in a 1987 coup.
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Thirteen other people were charged on Tuesday in connection with the killing, including Compaore's former right-hand man General Gilbert Diendere.
Charges against Compaore include undermining state security and concealing corpses, according to military documents seen by The Associated Press.
The circumstances behind Sankara's death, who was killed during the coup, have been shrouded in secrecy.
Compaore's trial will end a longstanding taboo in Burkina Faso politics and address his legacy head on. But Compaore is unlikely to face extradition from Ivory Coast.
In 2015, Burkina Faso issued a warrant for his arrest but Ivory Coast has refused to hand him over.
The charges come as the impoverished nation has been battling a jihadist insurgency that has killed thousands, displaced more than one million people and divided communities.
After winning re-election in November, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore pledged to make reconciliation a priority.
Some Burkina Faso observers say Kabore might be sending a public message conveying political dominance.
"What's more clear of a message than reviving a case, one that has plagued Burkina Faso's political stage for decades?" said Laith Alkhouri, a global intelligence adviser.
But locals, who have waited a long time for this moment, were sceptical things would progress beyond the charges.
"This is an indictment, not a conviction," Siaka Coulibaly, an analyst with the Center for Public Policy Monitoring by Citizens, told AP.
Australian Associated Press
