Rutana : a CNL representative tortured by an intelligence officer in Giharo

Melchiade Kabura, youth leader of the CNL party in the locality of Giharo in the district of Giharo in the province of Rutana (southeastern Burundi) was arrested by the head of the National Intelligence Service in this district on May 20, 2024. His only sin is having refused to join the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, according to our sources.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

After his arrest, Melchiade Kabura was taken directly to the cells of the district police station in Giharo.

Police sources indicate that the district head of the SNR (National Intelligence Service) named Amos took the detainee out of the cell on Tuesday May 21 around 9 a.m.

“He was going to torture him,” witnesses say.

He went to torture him in his office located not far from the district building.

“With his head thrown down and his legs in the air against the wall, Melchiade spent nearly 3 hours being beaten up by Amos,” lament witnesses who claim to have watched the scene helplessly.

Accusations and true motive

According to our sources, the local leader of the SNR in Giharo criticized the opponent for having refused an activist from the CNDD-FDD, the ruling party, to wear the outfit of the former Hutu rebellion.

“He wanted to get a confession at all costs,” regret police sources.

Officials of the main opposition party in Burundi, which is going through a leadership crisis, told SOS Médias Burundi that the man was apprehended at the request of the CNDD-FDD representative in the area, Alexis Baraguma. The latter is also one of the district councilors. Melchiade Kabura, who supports the camp of Agathon Rwasa, the contested traditional CNL leader who was recently dismissed by some of his party officials “with the complicity of the government”, was forced to join the CNDD-FDD, in vain, say local sources.

The biological and political family of Melchiade Kabura demand sanctions against his torturer.

The secret service agent and the CNDD-FDD representative cited in this case did not respond to our request to comment on these accusations.

Several people have been killed including a police major, others tortured by the Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) over the last six months in the district of Giharo, in addition to a discovery of bodies which has become commonplace in the same district. Local observers deplore the lack of serious investigations in “these cases which often involve administration officials and representatives of the ruling party”.