News


22 Aug

Arbitrary Arrests , Abductions And Enforced Disappearances Continue

In this SOS-Torture report of August 6 to 13, 2016 , we remember that arbitrary arrests have continued in some areas in the form of raids conducted by the police almost daily in targeted areas of the city of Bujumbura.These neighborhoods , particularly Musaga , are considered by the protesters to the third term of the President of the Republic. The report also mentions the grisly discovery of three bodies in the rivers. We previously reported the existence of a body floating on the river Mubarazi. In this report it, it is a second headless body found near the first and a third victim found in the river Ruvyironza in Gitega . None of the victims has yet been identified. Journalist Jean Bigirimana of press group Iwacu is still missing more than three weeks after his abduction by individuals identified as agents of the national intelligence service. After the attack against a journalist Burundians in exile in Uganda , the report suggests this time the attack with a machete against a defender of human rights also in exile in Uganda. He is wounded but alive, but this attack calls into question the safety of defenders in exile.

Prison conditions and especially the failure of prisoners’ rights such as access to health care has become a problem among prison authorities recently.The report of another detainee died in a Bujumbura jail for not having received authorization to receive appropriate treatment and became the third inmate who died in less than two months by negligence.

The report comes on the release of four other students in Cankuzo held several weeks to scrawl the picture of the President of Burundi in textbooks. The report will conclude with a comment on the concluding observations of the Committee against public turtle made ​​this Friday, 08/12/2016 .

1.     Arbitrary arrests , abductions and enforced disappearances continue

• Police conducted simultaneous raids in neighborhoods Musaga , Cibitoke and Nyakabiga ( Bujumbura ) August 6, 2016. Dozens of people were again gathered for identity checks . Police use such massive roundups particularly in districts known protest of the 3rd term of the President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza , citing officially be looking for hidden weapons and fighters.Those arrested were identified for hours before being released . This is a form of harassment and continuous persecution that targets only certain neighborhoods . Musaga The area is particularly affected by these raids that households suffer on average twice a week . Claudine Umutesi, arrested by the SNR since August 5

• A young mother named Claudine Umutesi was arrested dated August 5, 2016 by agents of the National Intelligence Service . The operation was conducted Mutakura ( north of Bujumbura ) at his home before it is fed into the dungeons of the SNR . Relatives are concerned for his safety especially as the woman is of Rwandan origin. Burundian political authorities are very violent towards neighboring Rwanda , raising fears of reprisals against nationals of the neighboring country. Egide Bazikamwe , arrested and exfiltration of the cell by the Commissioner of Karuzi

• A man named Egide Bazikamwe was arrested by police in the capital of the Karuzi province ( eastern DRC ) on 5 August 2016. He is a resident moved the site in Kigoma town Buhiga . Witnesses report he is the victim of participating in peaceful protests against the third term of President Nkurunziza of Burundi in April and May 2015 Musaga area ( south of Bujumbura). He was held in Karuzi police cell. As of August 11, 2016 , Egide Bazikamwe was exfiltrated from his cell by the Commissioner of Karuzi province police officer OPP1 Ndayiragije Ladislas , who took him to an unknown destination .

• Three young men were arrested in the area Murago , common Burambi , Rumonge province ( south) on 7 August 2016. The operation was conducted by Imbonerakure and police , while members of the ruling party are not empowered to conduct arrests. Young men are arrested Donatien Hatangimana Leopold Ndayongeje and Bigirimana . Witnesses said they were arrested in a household while attending a party, without cause and without a warrant. Their place of detention is unknown and families are worried about their safety because they have no news of these young people since their arrest.

• Again , the police conducted raids in targeted areas of the city of Bujumbura on 8 August 2016. The people of Mutakura and Musaga areas were covered by these raids , as well as the center of the capital. Over two hundred people were thus arrested by the police. Some of the victims of these raids are worried about the threatening police during these repetitive operations , who vowed that residents will never Musaga particularly quiet .The security agents and hiding more harassment they impose on these people , stating want revenge protests against the third term in April and May 2015 .

• Riot Brigade conducted raids in the center of Bujumbura on August 12 , 2016. Dozens of young men were gathered , passers-by and street vendors alike. Those arrested by police were searched before being placed in a column to head the sales area of the BRARUDI located near the bus park . Witnesses indicate that officers of BAE have required young men to kneel on the ground and girls sitting on the ground under a blazing sun. This is a degrading treatment that has nothing to do with the control of the police work . A portion of those arrested were subsequently shipped to the dungeons . Mr. Niyonkuru , tortured by Imbonerakure to Shombo

2.Assassinations , summary executions and armed attacks listed

Imbonerakure , the youth league of the ruling CNDD-FDD, continue to commit abuses with impunity. On the evening of August 6, 2016 , they arrested and tortured a demobilized soldier in the town Shombo , Muramvya province ( center of the country ). The victim is called Emmanuel Niyonkuru and was evacuated dying to Muramvya hospital ; he is also an activist of the opposition party MSD . This is not the first time that young Imbonerakure cited in torture and illegal arrests. They never bothered by the police or prosecution and enjoy total impunity. In many communities, they are substituted for the law enforcement conducting night patrols with weapons in the full knowledge of local authorities.

– A defender of human rights of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH ) was attacked on the evening of August 8, 2016 in Kampala, Uganda , where he lives in exile in Nakivale camp. The victim is Leon Ntakiyiruta , observer APRODH in Makamba province ( southern Burundi ) and cell responsible for Justice and Human Rights of the Forum for Awareness and Development ( FOCODE ) , attacked with machetes by two men a few meters from the same refugee camp. victim of colleagues indicate that Imbonerakure affiliated youth party CNDD-FDD to have infiltrated in recent months Burundian refugee camps to identify and attack the people opposed to the third term of President.

Mr. Ntakiyiruta victim would have just investigated the presence of these young people in refugee camps. He was wounded in the arm and head and evacuated for treatment in hospital.  Mr. Niyonkuru , tortured by Imbonerakure to Shombo – After the discovery of a decomposed body in the river on the Mubarazi Nyabisiga hill area Bugarama commune Muramvya(center of the country) dated August 5, 2016 , a second body was discovered in the same river in August 9, 2016, in the locality of Bihogo Nyabisiga on the hill. This discovery was made while civil protection police officers had gone to the place where was discovered the previous decomposing body , with the aim of rescuing and try to identify (see report SOS torture No. 34) .

After the operation, the fact is that the second victim was decapitated , making it very difficult for the time identification. The two bodies were weighted down with large stones before being thrown into the river by their killers . These findings are very disturbing and suggest extrajudicial killings whose victims could be many more .The first body found in the river Mubarazi Civil Protection police after the salvage operation of the two bodies of Mubarazi  Journalist Jean Bigirimana , missing since July 22, 2016 The area of ​​the macabre discovery is also one in which was seen for the last time journalist Jean Bigirimana the Press Group Iwacu , arrested by agents of the National Intelligence Service in Bugarama July 22, 2016 and taken to Muramvya(center of the country) according to several witnesses . Until then , the SNR and the police deny having arrested M.Bigirimana . More than three weeks after his enforced disappearance , colleagues of the journalist and his family fear he was executed . The discovery of the bodies in the river Mubarazi emphasizes that fear. Police announced Friday, August 12, 2016 none of the two recovered victims is Jean Bigirimana.

The decomposing body found in the river Ruvyironza – The decomposing body of another man was found dated August 9, 2016 in Ruvyironza river town Giheta , Gitega province ( central Somalia ) between the hills and Gihehe Korane . Witnesses report that the victim was murdered arms tied behind his back, but the identification was not conducted by the police. This man was buried by local authorities . This brings to three the number of victims murdered and thrown into rivers in the space of a week. – A man was shot dead in the town Rugombo , Cibitoke province ( west) on August 11 , 2016. The victim is a motorcycle transporter named Léonce Ngendakumana .

3. A prisoner dies in prison in Bujumbura

An inmate named Zuberi Benga died in the same speakers in Bujumbura central prison called Mpimba dated 7 August 2016. He had been unjustly arrested in Rumonge July 29, 2016 with nine other people in the place of his brother, a former MP Saleh appointed Cimanimpaye , wanted by the police (see report SOS-Torture No. 33) . Witnesses say he was ill and asked permission to leave for care , permission that was denied by the prison . In recent weeks , detainees die in similar circumstances following the refusal of the prison authorities to let them seek treatment outside the prison to receive appropriate treatment (see reports SOS-Torture No. 33 and 34 ) .

Mr. Zuberi Benga , died for lack of care Prison Besides the fact that the negligence of the prison authorities can not be justified , it should be noted that prison overcrowding in Burundi, particularly accentuated since the beginning of the crisis worsened conditions already precarious where detainees were. At the end of June 2016, the prison population was 8,831 inmates including over half ( 5.091 ) in custody (see SOS-Torture report Burundi No. 29).

4. Students detainees released to scrawl

Four high school students Cankuzo ( East of the country ) who were arrested for scribbling the picture of the President of Burundi in textbooks were released on 10 August 2016 the Ruyigi prison . This is a bail granted to these young students , which however did not finish their school year as their peers Students arrested since the beginning of June for this case scribbles were released , only two students remain in detention in Muramvya : Perfect Iradukunda and Alexis Mugerowimana , accused by the participation in an insurrectionary movement Parquet related to event organization during the arrest for doodling 5 High School students Muramvya . The SOS-Torture Campaign Burundi calls for their release. 

5. Concluding Observations of the Committee against Torture concerning the special report of Burundi on Friday the 08/12/2016 

After the exceptional review of Burundi on 28 and 29 July 2016 the Committee Against Torture has released its concluding observations this Friday, 08/12/2016 , observations that are after the Government of Burundi had refused to participate in the second dialogue session and is thus deprived of the opportunity to bring his answers directly from members of the committee , which did not prevent the committee , despite non-cooperation in maintaining the procedure and exit its concluding observations. 

In these concluding observations, the Committee against Torture denounced the forced disappearances of political opponents , citing the figure of 36 cases between April 2015 and April 2016 , sexual violence by the security forces and young Imbonerakure ( militia ) , as well as a genocidal rhetoric aimed at the Tutsi minority. 

The Committee strongly urges the State party ( Burundi ) to protect members of civil society who cooperated with the Committee against Torture. Here the Committee against Torture reversed its deep concern about the serious allegations received concerning reprisals against members of the Burundian civil society who have contributed and cooperate with the Committee at the 58th session in the context the Special Review of Burundi. The Committee is awaiting the comments of lawyers Armel Niyongere , Nigarura Lambert Dieudonné Bashirahishize and Vital Nshimirimana victims of retaliation to determine these allegations and that on basis of the party in question and any information to clarify this case including from the UN institutions that have been copied various correspondence relating thereto.  The Committee calls on Burundi to submit between now and October 12, 2016 a special monitoring report on all steps taken to implement all the recommendations contained in the report