Cibitoke: the police station cell holds 110 defendants in a space intended for 20 people

Local human rights defenders in Cibitoke (Northwest Burundi) warn that several people are crammed into the police station in inhuman conditions. In addition to the overcrowding, suspects are extorted by police officers who demand money to allow their families to see them. Sources close to the prosecution explain the situation by a lack of logistical means to unclog the custody. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to witnesses, suspects can no longer sleep, the space being so cramped.

“There are 110 detainees in a custody that can accommodate 20 people. They can’t sleep, they spend the night sitting on top of each other. It’s really inhuman what they’re going through”, report witnesses who spoke with detainees.

Corruption

In addition to precarious conditions, detainees are required to pay money to the policemen who guard the cell in order to have the right to be able to speak with members of their families who come to visit them.

“An amount of one thousand Burundi francs must be paid per person”, say our sources.

Local human rights defenders deplore the inhuman conditions in which the occupants of this cell are held.

“In addition to that, there are 14 minors who share the same premises with adults”, they lament.

“It’s incomprehensible! We are urging the provincial judicial authority to settle the situation. How come, for example, people arrested for petty offenses are kept for more than a month without being questioned – without a file?”, they wonder.

A police source admits that there is an inmate who has just spent 5 months without appearing before a judge.

Sources close to the prosecution explain the situation by a lack of logistical means including vehicles to transfer detainees to prisons in other provinces such as the commercial city of Bujumbura. The province of Cibitoke does not have a prison.

The Cibitoke prosecutor indicates that the situation will soon be resolved.

On tour in different provinces of Burundi, the justice minister recently affirmed that “prison overcrowding is close to 200%”.

Domine Banyankimbona criticizes judges and magistrates who send people to prison for nothing, reminding them that “putting people in detention is an exception”, regretting that “the exception has become a principle in Burundi”.