SOS-TORTURE BURUNDI REPORT NO. 406 PUBLISHED ON 24 SEPTEMBER 2023
This report by SOS-Torture Burundi covers the period from 16 to 23 September 2023 concerning cases of human rights violations in Burundi.
During this period, at least one (1) person was violently beaten on the University of Burundi’s Kamenge campus by an Imbonerakure student in the Faculty of Psychology.
The report also deplores the cases of one person who is being arbitrarily detained by the National Intelligence Service (SNR) after being abducted on the hill of Buringa in the commune of Gihanga of the Bubanza province and three (3) people who were abducted in the Bujumbura city.
SOS-TORTURE BURUNDI REPORT NO. 405 PUBLISHED ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2023
This report by SOS-Torture Burundi covers the period from 9 to 16 September 2023 concerning cases of human rights violations in Burundi.
During this period, at least two (2) people were murdered in the provinces of Bubanza and Bururi.
The report also deplores the case of an elderly woman who was severely tortured by soldiers at the Mudubugu camp in the Gihanga commune of Bubanza province.
SOS-TORTURE BURUNDI REPORT NO. 404 PUBLISHED ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2023
This report by SOS-Torture Burundi covers the period from 2 to 9 September 2023 concerning cases of human rights violations in Burundi.
During this period, at least two (2) men died in a dungeon at the police station in Cibitoke province as a result of lack of food and poor prison conditions.
The report also deplores the case of three (3) men who were abducted by members of the Burundi National Police (PNB) in Bujumbura town and Cibitoke province.
SOS-TORTURE BURUNDI REPORT NO. 403 PUBLISHED ON 3 SEPTEMBER 2023
This report by SOS-Torture Burundi covers the period from 26 August to 2 September 2023 concerning cases of human rights violations in Burundi.
During this period, at least fourteen (14) people were killed, including thirteen bodies discovered in a mass grave in the Maramvya zone in the commune of Mutimbuzi of the Bujumbura province, and a young man who was acquitted but kept in detention, who died in the regional hospital of Gitega following the refusal of his transfer to a specialised medical facility by the Attorney General of the Republic at the Court of Appeal of Gitega.
The report also deplores the case of one (1) human rights activist who was arrested and imprisoned at the order of the chief of staff of the governor of Bururi province, and that of one (1) activist of the ruling party CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy), who was abducted by elements of the National Intelligence Service (SNR) in Bujumbura city.
SOS-TORTURE BURUNDI REPORT NO. 402 PUBLISHED ON 27 AUGUST 2023
This report by SOS-Torture Burundi covers the period from 19 to 26 August 2023 concerning cases of human rights violations in Burundi.
At least eight (8) people were murdered during this period in various parts of the country.
Letter To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations (UN) Human
40 Burundian and international organizations send a letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland) to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and guarantee adequate financial resources for his follow-up work and documentation of the human rights situation in Burundi
Joint statement from Burundi’s civil society
One week ahead of the African Union/European Union summit in Brussels on February 17 and 18, 2022,
which the Burundian authorities are expected to attend, Burundi’s civil society in exile expresses its
disappointment and concern regarding the decision announced on February 8 by the European Union (EU) to
lift its sanctions against Burundi. These measures were adopted in 2016 as part of the Cotonou Agreement,
following a serious deterioration of the human rights situation in the country.
COVID-19-China: Concerns About The Situation Of African Migrants’ Victims Of Inhuman Treatment In The Context Of The Fight Against The Pandemic
Members of the SOS-Torture network in Africa addressed an urgent appeal to the special Rapporteurs on the human rights of migrants, on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and members of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent with regard to the situation of African migrants’ victims of inhuman treatment in China.
SOS Torture Burundi is member of SOS Torture network and one of the Signatories of this appeal.
Burundi Crises : Political Stalemate And The Risk Of An Explosion Of Violence On The Eve Of The 2020 Elections.
DOCUMENT PRESENTED IN FRONT OF CANADA COMMUNAL CHAMBER OF PARLIAMENT ON 06/11/2018
Burundi Crises: « Political stalemate and the risk of an explosion of violence on the eve of the 2020 elections».
Presented by Counsel Armel NIYONGERE, Lawyer, President and Legal Representative of Acat-Burundi, Director and Initiator of the Organization SOS Torture/Burundi and General Coordinator of the Lawyers’ Collective of Civil Party «Justice for Burundi”»
Email: armelniyo@gmail.com
Twitter: @NiyongereArmel
Skype: armel.niyongere78
Whatsapp: +45 369 88 718
www.acatburundi.org /www.sostortureburundi.over-blog.com /www.sostortureburundi.org
- Introduction
In the aftermath of the failure of the “fifth and final round of inter-Burundian dialogue“, which was scheduled for 24-29 October 2018, Burundi finds itself in a serious political stalemate and risks engaging in violence as its only path of political expression.
The hope of a political compromise at the end of this last round promised by Facilitator Benjamin Mkapa [1] was ruined by the boycott of the activities by the government side and the parties of its mobility. The latter demanded that the only item on the agenda for the session be the signed road map in the province of Kayanza (northern Burundi) in early August 2018 for the 2020 elections. That document has been approved by about twenty pro-government political parties without internal and external opposition.
Representatives of CNARED opposition platform in exile and opponents residing in Burundi met from 21 to 23 September 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda, and came up with a joint memorandum for facilitation.
Based on the two documents transmitted to him, the Facilitator William Benjamin Mkapa asked the participants of the 5th session of the dialogue to take into consideration the Kayanza and Entebbe roadmaps in order to come up with another roadmap including key proposals that could lead to credible holding in 2020 elections. Thus, the Facilitator Mkapa has promised to prepare a roadmap based on the Kayanza roadmap and the 5th session of the dialogue to produce a report that he will submit to the mediator and the Heads of State of East Africa for guidance.
It is noted that the independent Burundian civil society has sent correspondances to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Presidents of the East African Community, the African Union as well as Mediation and Facilitation in the Burundian conflict, the priorities for the resolution of the Burundian crisis and their position in relation to the fifth round of negotiations for the resolution of the Burundian crisis, this letter was sent on 07 September 2018.
All parties deplored the unilateral revision of the constitution by the Burundian Government and insisted on respect for the Arusha Agreement, which remains the bedrock of the return to peace and security in Burundi. Then, positive conditions to the respect of human rights, the voluntary return of refugees must prevail for the holding of free, peaceful and transparent elections in 2020 as the reopening of destroyed media and organizations of civil society suspended or canceled …
Clearly, the failure of the East African Community’s mediation and the continued foreclosure of public space by the Government is an important factor in the deterioration of the political and security situation in the face of rising hate speech and violence during the 2020 electoral process.
[1] Former Tanzanian President working with the Ombudsman, Kaguta Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda on behalf of EAC (East African Community).
No Action Has Been Taken To Prosecute The Killers
In the report of the SOS-Torture Campaign / Burundi from 9 to 16 July 2016 we remember the arbitrary arrests that have flared up in the city of Bujumbura including qualified Musaga protest zone area of the 3rd term of the President of the Republic Pierre Nkurunziza.
Dozens of people have been victims daily raids, selected for hours before being released without explanation, while others were shipped by the police.
At least six people were killed in various localities including four in Bujumbura. Among the victims was the member for EALA (East African Legislative Assembly) Hafsa Mossi, shot near his home Mutanga north (north of Bujumbura). This is a political figure well known member of the ruling CNDD-FDD.
The report also mentions the sentence of three years’ imprisonment to a judge of the High Court of Kirundo who is the victim of assembly and expeditious justice and whose trial was not fair. The young Jean De Dieu Irakoze in custody Rutovu
1. Arbitrary arrests, abductions and enforced disappearances continue
• A young man named John of God Irakoze was arrested July 12, 2016 the Musenyi hill area Kajondi, Rutovu commune, Bururi province (south). it is a terminal rises Rutovu High School. According to his father, the police first conducted a search looking for weapons but found nothing. The police then arrested her son without explanation and took him to the dungeon of the Rutovu font. Relatives indicate that incarceration is related to the assassination of Brother Sylvère Nimirijimana, high school director Rutovu occurred on the evening of July 8, 2016 (see SOS-Torture report Burundi No. 30). But they are worried about the safety of the young man because no proof of his guilt has been established.
• Police conducted a raid in the Musaga area (south of Bujumbura) on July 12, 2016. At least 112 people were arrested between 1st and 2nd Avenues Musaga Gasekebuye and the district of the same area, people were kept during the hours sitting on the ground under a blazing sun. The police detained him for eight of Gasekebuye neighborhood. Witnesses report that all the others were released on payment of bribes, kickbacks to the police, although they had their identification papers and were recorded in the ‘specifications households’ required from the beginning of the crisis administration. A bus driver was beaten violently on the streets during the day by officers from the custody of the Burundian Minister of Public Security dated July 14, 2016.
The driver had to mow a passing procession of vehicles of Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni downtown Bujumbura on a busy road. The victim was shipped to an undisclosed location after the beating. This is not just a procedural violation but also inhuman and degrading treatment by the care of a minister in charge of public security for a simple road accident which was to be supported by road safety police especially that automobile insurance is mandatory.
The political authorities must enforce the application of the law as the Minister of Public Security today show above the law and to justice Favorite confirming the absence of rule of law in Burundi.
The same day, police also arrested two women suspected of taking photos of the scene after the accident (photos below).The bus driver (lying on the ground) surrounded by police who were beating him• The police again made a raid of a hundred people in the area Musaga dated 15 July 2016. Witnesses say that police were supported by the presence of military and claimed to be looking for ‘combatants’. All persons presented their identification documents but the hundred individuals were shipped by the police. The people of Musaga denounce arbitrary arrests as well as harassment by the police while the area has not had a case of insecurity for several days.
2. killings, summary executions and armed attacks listed
• On 10 July 2016 the body of a murdered young man was found in the neighborhood Mutanga north Gihosha area (north of Bujumbura). The victim had injuries to his head and face.
• Two people were killed in the Cibitoke province (north-west) in the evening of 11 July 2016. The first victim is a man named Bernard Barinahaki killed by grenade near his home in the town Bukinanyana. The second victim is called Japheth Ntacobemera capita common Mugina. Witnesses say the man was stabbed.The former member of the EALA Hafsa Mossi murdered in Bujumbura • A Burundian member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) was shot dead in July 13, 2016 the day the district Mutanga north (north of Bujumbura). The victim is Mrs Hafsa Mossi who had just left his home. Witnesses said the gunmen were in a vehicle and ambushed him. The member received two bullets in the chest and died in hospital after his evacuation. Ms Hafsa Mossi was a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD. Before becoming MP for the East African Community, she held other senior positions in the government.
• Former colleagues of the victim testified persistent threats received Hafsa Mossi recent months by certain high Burundian authorities. No action has been taken to prosecute the killers after they failed in a secure area and yet who was digging subject to certain avenues; no suspects have also been arrested yet. One of the victims murdered in Gihosha
• Two people were killed in the afternoon of 14 July 2016 Gihosha area (north of Bujumbura). The victims are a man of Rwandan nationality and a girl aged 10 who were shot by a stranger while they were in the same plot also houses a private hospital. Witnesses report that the killer has fled, leaving his gun at the crime scene.
3. A judge of Kirundo sentenced to 3 years in prison
In our report SOS-Torture Burundi No. 30, we noted the disturbing case of a judge of the District Court of Kirundo named Ildefonso Ndikumwami arrested July 2, 2016 at his home by agents of the national intelligence service accompanied by young activists ‘Imbonerakure’ of the ruling party. This judge was jailed and charged with insulting the head of state and undermine the security of the state following anti-pamphlets Nkurunziza (President of the Republic) gathered outside his home.
This case was considered expeditiously by the Court of Appeal of Ngozi (north) which met on July 6, leaving no opportunity for the accused to prepare his defense in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court delivered its verdict July 15, 2016 and sentenced Mr. Ndikumwami to 3 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 francs.
Mr. Ndikumwami has always maintained his innocence and denounced before the judges a mounting which he suffered after some files he had treated the High Court of Kirundo.