5-8 June 2016

1)   Arrests of Civilians Continues

(SOS Media, Social Media, June 7, 2016, in French)

Busoni (Kirundo) : Arrestation de Deux Partisans d'Agathon Rwasa par des Membres du CNDD-FDD

• The chairman of the FNL party and his deputy for the Murore Zone (in the Busoni Municipality in the Kirundo Province, North of the country) have been imprisoned.
• They were arrested on the Gatemere hill by members of the ruling CNDD-FDD Party, on the accusation of participating in illegal meeting.

Mugamaba (Bururi) : Arrestation de Deux Jeunes Personnes Soupconees d’etre des Anti 3e Mandat

• The police arrested two young people on the hill of Mumbira in the Nyagasasa Area of the Kajara Municipality.
• They were taken to the dungeon post of Kajaro.
• They were arrested on suspicion of having taken part in the demonstrations against President Knurunziza’s third term (Spring 2015)

Buganda (Cibitoke) : Arrestation de Six Suspects dans l'assasinat  d'un Commercant a Gaenyi

• Turitsa, Maribe, Tama, Gervais, John and Prosper; all members of the CNDD-FDD party, were arrested on Monday by the police on suspicion of having taken part in the assassination of a trader in Gasenyi.
• Citizens are tired of the extreme acts of violence committed in Bugunda in recent weeks.
• Human rights workers are requesting that the authorities work to deter crime in Cibitoke.
• Muryamvya: 6 des 11 Lyceens Accuses d’Outrage Envers le Chef de l’Etat Libres.
• The High Court of Muramvya has just decided to release six of the eleven high school students detained at the central prison.
• They are all minors who were detained for allegedly showing contempt towards the head of states.
• Their cases were heard by a board of judges. However, their release is tentative, and the burdens on them have not been lifted.

2) Assassination and Imprisonment of Journalists

(SOS Media, Social Media, June 7, 2016, in French) La journaliste somalienne Sagal Salad Osman assassinée

• Sagal Salad Osman, a Somali Journalist of Radia Mogadishu state media eas shot on Sunday June 5th in the Somalian capital. 

(RSF Bonesha FM, Privately Owned Media, June 7 2016, in French) A journalist Bonesha FM Radio imprisoned in the dungeons of the documentation Cibitoke

• Egide Ndayisenga was arrested in midday this Sunday, May 5, 2016 at 11 am in Cibitoke province where he was on a private visit. He arrived Saturday in this western province of Burundi to visit friends.
• This reporter was arrested by a sergeant before being in the dungeons of the documentation of Cibitoke province. He was arrested without a warrant and manu-militari led to Cibitoke.
• According to sources on site, Egide Ndayisenga would be accused of collaborating with journalists who have fled the country. It would be held in a dungeon known National Service Renseignement.

3) 25 police officers and dismissed from the National Police

(RSF Bonesha FM, Privately Owned Media, June 8 2016, in French) Burundi: 25 policiers et officiers révoqués de la police nationale

• The national police spokesman announced a list of 25 officers police were delisted from the ranks of the national police. Pierre Nkurikiye says that these police officers were dismissed for different reasons, "Some of them stayed abroad after completing their studies or assignments. 
• He added that criminal proceedings had been initiated for misconduct before their dismissal.
• Colonel Richard Hagabimana is among those who were dismissed. He was prosecuted for complicity in the attempted coup of May 13, 2015, and was released after the first trial of Gitega but sentenced to life in the judgment of the court of appeal of Gitega. He is currently in Greece.

4. Increase in Torture Cases

Privately Owned Media

345 cas de torture depuis janvier 2016 et 595 depuis avril 2015 selon le rapporteur des Nations Unies Zeid Ra’ad Hussein. (RSF Bonesha FM, Privately Owned Media, April 19, 2016, in French)

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad l, Hussein warns the government of Bujumbara against a sharp increase in cases of torture and ill treatment of people in Burundi.
• In a report released Monday, April 18, 2016, the United Nations experts reveal more that 345 cases of torture since 2016, and more than 595 people who have been victims of torture and ill-treatment since April, 2015.
• Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein mentions in this report that the detained persons met by investgators wtill had “fresh wounds and said that they had been neaten with chains, belts, and other sharp objects, or burnt”. Torture and ill treatment primarily occurred at the time of arrest, upon arrival at place of detention, and during detention itself.
• These tortures and ill treatments were reported to have occurred primarily in the local of the National Intelligence Service (SNR), the Police and, to a lesser degree, the army.

5. Public Hearing in the Trial of Alleged Coup Plotters

Privately Owned Media

Gitega : audiences publiques dans le procès des présumés putschistes (Radio Isanganiro, Privately Owned Media, April 13, 2016, in French)

• The public hearings in the trial of the alleged coup plotters continue. 11 suspects appeared before the Appeal s Chamber 2^nd level of the Supreme Court of Bujumbura office in Gitega.
• Among the accused are two police officers and nine enlisted men. They are being accused if having been involved in the attempted coup of  May 13^th 2015,  and participating by demolishing buildings in connivance with the anti-Nkurunziza demonstrators.