Bujumbura: the prosecutor to the Ntahangwa Court of Appeal and his substitute in jail

Merveille de Dieu Cishhayo, Attorney General at the Ntahangwa Court of Appeal in the north of the economic capital Bujumbura and Anastase Habonimana, Deputy General to the same court are detained in the central prison of Bujumbura, Mpimba. They are accused of having tried to extort a Burundian national living in the Netherlands. The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic has announced the opening of a judicial investigation against the two officials. The amount concerned is 64 thousand euros. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The information at our disposal suggests the Attorney General at the Ntahangwa Court of Appeal wanted to embezzle a sum of 64,000 euros by forcing the owner of this money, a Burundian who was returning to the country from abroad, to sign a report of seizure of 10 thousand euros instead of the total amount of 74 thousand euros.

The concerned refused to sign the report got arrested and thrown into jail of Mpimba the day he landed at Bujumbura airport a few days ago.

Merveille de Dieu Cishahayo was transferred to Burundi’s largest prison on Tuesday. He joined Anastase Habonimana, detained there since March 15 for the same case.

This Wednesday, the general prosecutor’s office of the Republic announced the opening of a judicial investigation against the two magistrates.

“They are being prosecuted as part of the RMPG 907/N.S/ NK.F file opened against them in relation to the amounts they allegedly extorted from a Burundian citizen who was returning to his country from Netherlands”, announced in a statement the Attorney General of the Republic, Sylvestre Nyandwi.

In Burundi and in several other countries of the sub-region, any passenger who enters there is not authorized to carry on him more than 10 thousand dollars without reporting it to the authorities.