Bunyoni affair: former prime minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni appealed

Former Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni appealed to the second level of the Supreme Court on January 2, SOS Médias Burundi learned this Tuesday, January 9, 2024. The former Burundian regime’s strongman got a life sentence early last November. The court has not yet reacted to set the day of the public hearing, indicated his lawyer Placide Gatoto. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The appeal was filed with the Supreme Court of Burundi located in the commercial city Bujumbura on January 2, Placide Gatoto, lawyer for Mr. Bunyoni, confirmed to SOS Médias Burundi.

However, he continues, the court has not yet reacted to set the day for the resumption of public hearings.

General Bunyoni was sentenced to life in prison on November 7, 2023 after a marathon trial which took place at the central prison of Gitega (political capital) where he has been detained since last July. It is the same jurisdiction that punished him.

The former Hutu rebel was found guilty of endangering the internal security of the state, of using fetishes to try to assassinate President Évariste Ndayishimiye, of plotting against the head of state with the aim of overthrowing the constitutional regime, undermining the proper functioning of the national economy, illegal taking of interests, contempt of the Head of State and the Prime Minister and illegal possession of weapons. The court also ordered the seizure of Bunyoni’s assets consisting of houses, vehicles and a property.