13-19 April 2016

1. Arrests and Violence Against Civilians Continues

 Social Media

(SOS Media, Social Media, April 19, 2016, in French) 

Mabanda (Makamba): 8 Personnes Arretees Pour “Participation a des Bandes Armees”

• Burundi Intelligence Agents arrested eight people yesterday afternoon. The people that were arrested all belong to the same family, and were arrested under the suspicion of collaborating with armed gangs.
• The group of people arrested comprised of six men and two young girls, from the Rumonge Province. They were on their way to the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania, and all possessed travel documents.

Giharo (Rutana) : Un Enseignant Retrouve Mort Chez Lui

• On April 14 Eric Manirakiza, a teacher of the Murara  primary school in the Giharo commune, was found dead in his home.
• All the items in his home were stolen.
• Members of his family believe that he was murdered.
• His neighbors mention that he was being threatened because he failed to be a member of the CNDD-FDD party.

Kinama (Bujumbura): Une Personne Blessee Par Balle - Des Militaires en Cause

• On Saturday April 16 a person was shot in Kinama, Bujumbura. It happened at 9PM on ‘Blackbone’ road, between the Kinama and Cibitoke districts in the north of the capital.

Macabre Decouverte a Mugina

• On  Sunday April 17, the body of Clovis Niyonkuru was found in a small irrigation canal, in the Buseruko area of the Mugina munipality.
• His family is eager to know how this happened.

Ngagara (Buiumbura): Un Mort et Plusieurs Blesses dans L’attaque du Bar “Chez Ndizeye”

• There was an attack at the bar “Chez Ndizeye” in District 5 of Ngagara at about 10PM, on Tuesday April 19.District 7 resident Belinda Munyana was killed and several others were injured. Authorities are baffled by the circumstance of the attack

Privately Owned Media

(RSF Bonesha FM, Privately Owned Media, April 19, 2016, in French) 

Bururi : Des arrestations se poursuivent après l’attaque des hommes armés à Mugamba

• Four people were arrested in the Mugomera hill in the Vyuya area of the Mugamba commune, in the Bururi Province.
• The police ae said to have been familiar with only two of the people that they arrested, a driver and a student of the Gitandu municipal high school.
• Police sources say that they found cartridge in the student’s room.
• The police was also looking for the students elder brother, a former military official, but he was not on the premises at the time of the arrest.
• According to the residents of Gakaranka hill in the Kiyumu area, the police arrested two youth s on Monday.
• These arrests were carried out by the police after and the attack  and killing of four people by armed men on the night of Sunday and Monday in the areas of Kivumu and Nyagasasa.

Bujumbura- un policier tire sur un tricycle et tue une jeune fille

• A young girl was killed on Monday in the Kinama zone of the Ntahangwa commune. She was on board a “Bajaje” tricycle which failed to stop on order of the officer.
• The officer fired at the “Bajaje”, and the bullet hit the young girl, who died shortly form her injuries.

2. Attacks and Arrests of Police

Social Media

Jabe (Bujumbura): Explosion Dans Les Bureaux de la Police Judiciare. (SOS Media, Social Media, April 19, 2016, in French) 

• On Friday April 15, a grenade blew up inside the oremises of the judicial police, in the district of Jabe, in the Bwiza area.

Privately Owned Media

Mabanda:Huit policiers ex FAB arrêtés depuis le 31 mars courant accusés de vol qualifié. (RSF Bonesha FM, Privately Owned Media, April 19, 2016, in French)

• Eight police officers were arrested on armed robbery charges.
• Seven out of eight of them are former police FAB.
• They are being accused of robbing the home of a Chinese worker, who worked for a road construction company Mugina-Mabanda-Nyanza Lac.
• The officers have been suspended with no salary for three months.
• Two of the eight officers have been released.

3. Rwandan Refugee Found Dead

Social Media

Bukembe (Rutana): Un Rwandais Retrouve Pendu  dans une foret. (SOS Media, Social Media, April 19, 2016, in French) 

• The body of a Rwandan refugee named Nshimiye was found hanging from a tree in the Bukemba area of the Rutana Province.
• Authourities suspect that the victim was kidnapped and executed before been hanged, in an attempt to “distort the investigation”.
• The body of another Rwandan refugee was found in the municipality of Giharo, in the same province.

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.