Burundi: hidden crimes of the Bujumbura regime, NGOs denounce

Text by: RFI Follow

In Burundi, four days before a presidential election for which incumbent president Pierre Nkurunziza is not a candidate, Burundian civil society organizations accuse the current government of having continued its bloody repression, started during the demonstrations against his third mandate, end of April 2015.

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The UN counter has been blocked at 1,200 victims since the closure of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country in 2017. And even if the leaders of these organizations were pushed to the in exile, they have kept networks of activists throughout the country, which allows them to document these "hidden crimes".

Thus Bélyse Ntakarutimana, young woman of 32 years old and mother of a girl of 7 years old, she lived in the popular district of Mutakura, in the northeast of Bujumbura. Activist of the opposition MSD party, she actively participated in demonstrations against the third term of President Pierre Nkurunziza in May 2015. Months later, soldiers showed up at her home.

The rest is told by Pacifique Nininahazwe, head of the Ndondeza campaign , which has already thoroughly investigated 180 cases of enforced disappearance in Burundi.

“  On January 16, 2016 at 3 am, she was arrested by soldiers led by Captain Ntezimana. Members of the plot asked the captain: where are you taking the young woman? He replied: We are bringing her for an investigation, she will come back  ”.

Bélyse Ntakarutimana never returned home. Captain Ntezimana has been promoted to the rank of major and works in the army staff.

Banned in the country, the Iteka human rights league continues to investigate clandestinely. It has so far identified 555 victims of enforced disappearances since 2015.

Iteka documented during the same period the case of hundreds of bodies of people killed violently, then abandoned anywhere across the country. 

"  Over the past five years, the league has verified Iteka (the case of) 2245 people killed, explains  the  president of Iteka, Ansgar Nikoyagize to  764 (people), the body was found in different localities. And each time a corpse is found, it is buried immediately, without making an investigation  ”.

The Burundian government has always denied all this violence which is happening behind closed doors , according to the Ligue Iteka.

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• Burundi
• Human rights
• Justice