International pressure can work: Drama as Burundi court acquits key figures in fictitious coup plot - Torture victims vow international legal action
Pressure forces acquittal of Burundi coup plotters - SA Mail and Guardian
Pressure from the international community, NGOs and civil society led to the acquittal recently of five alleged coup plotters imprisoned in Burundi in August this year. The men were arrested and charged with plotting to overthrow the government, but the accusations were widely believed to have been fabricated by elements in the government. Well-placed sources in Burundi said the judge’s decision to acquit five of the accused was a “political decision due to international pressure.”
Five of seven alleged coup plotters, including ex-president Domitien Ndayizeye, were found not guilty of plotting to overthrow the government and were released after spending the past six months in jail.
“It is a positive development which was very urgently needed,” Jan van Eck, a Burundi analyst told the Mail & Guardian. Van Eck says the alleged coup plot had been “destabilising the country, creating the impression that the government was becoming undemocratic, oppressing the opposition and not honouring the election promise to apply good governance”. This is “a step in the right direction,” he added.
In 2005 the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza was elected in a landslide victory in the country’s first election since the end of a civil war that destabilised the country for over a decade.
Explaining the decision, the spokesperson for the supreme court, Elie Ntungwanayo, said: “The court judged that the accusations lacked foundation. [Information was] based on testimonials by Alain Mugabarabona and Tharcisse Ndayishimiye, and [we] could therefore not rely on their sole testimonials as no other proof had been found.”
Mugabarabona, a former rebel leader, and Ndayishimiye, who were imprisoned on the same charges, received hefty sentences of 20 years and 15 years in prison respectively, allegedly because they had confessed to planning a coup.
“Since the two accused have confessed to having organised meetings in the hope of organising a coup d’état, it is only logical for the court to consider their testimonials and charge them accordingly,” said Ntungwanayo.
Others have questioned whether the two men are really guilty: “How can a coup be organised by two people with no help from the army?” asked Deo Niyonzima, one of the accused acquitted this week and an opposition party leader. Niyonzima added that he found the accusations ludicrous.
“Hussein Radjabu [the leader of the ruling party] is behind this coup set up,” Niyonzima said in an interview with the M&G. “They wanted to keep quiet all those who did not agree to their political programme … they want to create a dictatorship.”
Niyonzima, who was released on Tuesday, still battles with the pain caused by injuries he received when he was tortured by security officers shortly after his arrest.
“They beat me with galvanised pipes, steel wires; inserted nails in my shin. There were eight people beating me from all angles,” says Niyonzima. “They beat me on my lower back where my nerves are, they tried to break my back in two,” he says.
He was beaten in an attempt to get him to consent to allegations of which he knew nothing. “They asked me to lie,” says Niyonzima.
A medical evaluation done on Niyonzima while he was in prison proved he had been tortured. “I still have scars on my body,” he says.
Had it not been for his lawyer’s rapid public denouncement of the torture, which led to a visit from the minister of human rights, who acknowledged the torture, Niyonzima believes that he and the other alleged coup plotters would be dead.
“In terms of the law we were innocent, but in terms of the political will, we were the enemies,” says Niyonzima.
He believes that they owe their liberty not to the court system but to the pressure applied to the government by civil society, human rights organisations, the European Union and other foreign donors.
“We will lodge a complaint on an international level,” says Niyonzima.
Ed: While the allegations against Ndayizeye, Kadege, Niyonzima, Mugabarabona and the other detainees were manifestly false, there appears to be ample evidence that several of them were tortured by the Burundian authorities in order to extract confessions. Torture is a "Crime Against Humanity" under international law, punishable through universal jurisdiction in dozens of countries around the world, as well as, in principle, the International Criminal Court (ICC). Burundi ratified the ICC statute on September 21st 2004, so any international crimes committed in the country since then could fall under its jurisdiction.
Burundi, human rights, Current Affairs, Politics, Africa
Pressure from the international community, NGOs and civil society led to the acquittal recently of five alleged coup plotters imprisoned in Burundi in August this year. The men were arrested and charged with plotting to overthrow the government, but the accusations were widely believed to have been fabricated by elements in the government. Well-placed sources in Burundi said the judge’s decision to acquit five of the accused was a “political decision due to international pressure.”
Five of seven alleged coup plotters, including ex-president Domitien Ndayizeye, were found not guilty of plotting to overthrow the government and were released after spending the past six months in jail.
“It is a positive development which was very urgently needed,” Jan van Eck, a Burundi analyst told the Mail & Guardian. Van Eck says the alleged coup plot had been “destabilising the country, creating the impression that the government was becoming undemocratic, oppressing the opposition and not honouring the election promise to apply good governance”. This is “a step in the right direction,” he added.
In 2005 the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza was elected in a landslide victory in the country’s first election since the end of a civil war that destabilised the country for over a decade.
Explaining the decision, the spokesperson for the supreme court, Elie Ntungwanayo, said: “The court judged that the accusations lacked foundation. [Information was] based on testimonials by Alain Mugabarabona and Tharcisse Ndayishimiye, and [we] could therefore not rely on their sole testimonials as no other proof had been found.”
Mugabarabona, a former rebel leader, and Ndayishimiye, who were imprisoned on the same charges, received hefty sentences of 20 years and 15 years in prison respectively, allegedly because they had confessed to planning a coup.
“Since the two accused have confessed to having organised meetings in the hope of organising a coup d’état, it is only logical for the court to consider their testimonials and charge them accordingly,” said Ntungwanayo.
Others have questioned whether the two men are really guilty: “How can a coup be organised by two people with no help from the army?” asked Deo Niyonzima, one of the accused acquitted this week and an opposition party leader. Niyonzima added that he found the accusations ludicrous.
“Hussein Radjabu [the leader of the ruling party] is behind this coup set up,” Niyonzima said in an interview with the M&G. “They wanted to keep quiet all those who did not agree to their political programme … they want to create a dictatorship.”
Niyonzima, who was released on Tuesday, still battles with the pain caused by injuries he received when he was tortured by security officers shortly after his arrest.
“They beat me with galvanised pipes, steel wires; inserted nails in my shin. There were eight people beating me from all angles,” says Niyonzima. “They beat me on my lower back where my nerves are, they tried to break my back in two,” he says.
He was beaten in an attempt to get him to consent to allegations of which he knew nothing. “They asked me to lie,” says Niyonzima.
A medical evaluation done on Niyonzima while he was in prison proved he had been tortured. “I still have scars on my body,” he says.
Had it not been for his lawyer’s rapid public denouncement of the torture, which led to a visit from the minister of human rights, who acknowledged the torture, Niyonzima believes that he and the other alleged coup plotters would be dead.
“In terms of the law we were innocent, but in terms of the political will, we were the enemies,” says Niyonzima.
He believes that they owe their liberty not to the court system but to the pressure applied to the government by civil society, human rights organisations, the European Union and other foreign donors.
“We will lodge a complaint on an international level,” says Niyonzima.
Ed: While the allegations against Ndayizeye, Kadege, Niyonzima, Mugabarabona and the other detainees were manifestly false, there appears to be ample evidence that several of them were tortured by the Burundian authorities in order to extract confessions. Torture is a "Crime Against Humanity" under international law, punishable through universal jurisdiction in dozens of countries around the world, as well as, in principle, the International Criminal Court (ICC). Burundi ratified the ICC statute on September 21st 2004, so any international crimes committed in the country since then could fall under its jurisdiction.
Burundi, human rights, Current Affairs, Politics, Africa
posted by R | 1:25 AM
1 Comments:
It is to be praised that the Prisonners were released.However,I believe that if we have to go by the rule of Law where everyone would have to seek legal action,we would have to start from way back.Our current President humbly confessed the crimes he committed while fighting for CNDD-FDD,which technically should bring him before Justice.That is where I do not seem to understand that just some individuals have to suffer and be tortured while others enjoy the luxury of immunity from prosecution.Let us look at the scenario of the crimes committed by Rebel movement for the Liberation of Hutu,or the crimes committed or ordered by High ranking officers through assassination,corruption,etc.All of these are crimes to bring before courts and there has to be a fairness in how they bring cases forward.
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