In 2017, Burundi became the first country to withdraw from the
International Criminal Court after being accused of committing crimes
against humanity. Burundi also closed offices of the United Nations on
human rights, and in May expelled officials from the World Health
Organization.
Last week, four journalists were imprisoned to terms of
two-and-a-half years for investigating political unrest in the northwest
of the country.
Mudge said the human rights situation may not improve with the passing of Nkurunziza.
“I don’t think we are going to see much change with the death of
Nkurunziza with regards to the human rights standard. It went beyond one
individual. So, I think we are unfortunately looking at dark days
ahead,” said Mudge.
Nelleke van de Walle, deputy director for central Africa at the
International Crisis Group, said the future of Burundi depends on what
the political system left behind by Nkurunziza will do in the coming
months.
“He was expected to remain influential because he was appointed
supreme guide of patriotism, so it was likely that he continued to play a
role in the political scene in Burundi with his death. It's possible
that Evariste has more freedom of movement to act more independently.
But then again, Nkurunziza is only one man, and his rule was underpinned
by a political system, and that system is very much in place,” she
said.
For now, the speaker of parliament will be in charge of the affairs
of the state, until the president-elect is sworn in on August 20.
Burundi officials jailed over rough game with president
By AFP
Added 3rd March 2018 01:42 PM
Kiremba's administrator Cyriaque Nkezabahizi and his assistant, Michel Mutama, were imprisoned on Thursday, AFP reports.
Two official in Burundi were arrested and jailed over a rough game with President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Nkurunziza is a 'born-again' evangelical Christian who spends much of
his time travelling Burundi with his own team, Haleluya FC. He travels
with his own choir, "Komeza gusenga", which means "pray non-stop" in the
local Kirundi language.
On 3 February, his team faced a side from the northern town of Kiremba.
Normally, the opposition is well aware they are playing against the
country's president, and it has been said they go easy in the games,
even perhaps allowing Nkurunziza to score.
But as the Kiremba team contained Congolese refugees who did not know
they were playing against Burundi's president, they "attacked each time
he had the ball and made him fall several times", a witness told AFP.
Kiremba's administrator Cyriaque Nkezabahizi and his assistant,
Michel Mutama, were imprisoned on Thursday, the news agency report.
AFP cited a judicial source as saying they had been arrested on charges of "conspiracy against the president".
Burundi schoolgirls jailed for doodling on president's photo
By AFP
Added 21st March 2019 09:38 AM
The girls, aged 15, 16 and 17, face up to five years in prison for insulting the head of state if found guilty.
Three schoolgirls have been detained pending trial for
allegedly defacing a picture of Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza in a
textbook (AFP)
Three teenage schoolgirls in Burundi have been sent to
prison to await trial for scribbling on a picture of President Pierre
Nkurunziza in textbooks, activists said Thursday.
The girls, aged 15, 16 and 17, face up to five years in prison for insulting the head of state if found guilty.
Judges said the three girls should be "prosecuted for contempt of the
head of state", and ordered them to a juvenile section of a prison in
the north of Burundi at Ngozi to await trial, said FENADEB, a civil
society umbrella group of 48 organisations.
The trio has been in custody since March 12, when they were arrested
with three other schoolgirls and a 13-year old boy. The boy was released
immediately because he was below the age of criminal responsibility,
while the three girls were released without charge.
The girls are accused of defacing photographs of Nkurunziza in five
textbooks belonging to their school, but teachers pointed out that the
books are shared among all the pupils as there are not enough for
everyone to have their own.
A judicial source, who called the case "very sensitive" and said it
was overseen directly by the Attorney General, reported that the girls
arrived at the prison on Wednesday afternoon.
It was not clear when they might face trial, but the father of one of
the girls said they were already "too scared to eat", according to
Lewis Mudge, from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In 2016, several schoolchildren were handed prison sentences for
similar scribbles on the president's face, and hundreds of pupils
expelled, sparking an international outcry.
Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza in April 2015 sought a fiercely-contested third term in office.
The violence has claimed at least 1,200 lives and displaced more than
400,000 people between April 2015 and May 2017, according to estimates
by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has opened an
investigation.
"With so many real crimes being committed in Burundi, it's tragic
that children are the ones being prosecuted for harmless scribbles,"
HRW's Mudge added.
"Authorities should focus on holding perpetrators of serious rights
violations to account instead of jailing schoolchildren for doodles."
