Kayanza : a one-year jail for a district secretary and his co-defendants

The First Instance Court sentenced the district secretary of Kabarore in the Kayanza province (north of the country) and his four co-defendants to one year in prison and a fine of 500,000 Burundi francs each. They are prosecuted for undermining the national economy. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

In a flagrante delicto trial on August 20, Jean Paul Nyabenda, district secretary of Kabarore, his accomplices namely Ferdinand Manirambona alias Sivyibitabu, Étienne Buhinja, Isaac Ntakiyiruta and Fleury Barekebavuge appeared to be judged for illegal trade of seven bags of coffee to neighboring Rwanda.

Three of them had been caught red-handed by the district secretary and another man, last Thursday with 7 bags of coffee that they were transporting to Rwanda.

The prosecution accused the district secretary that despite this arrest, this coffee remains untraceable and that he himself would have diverted it and sold it in Rwanda.

It should be noted that three people were killed, their bodies thrown into the Kanyaru River (which flows along the border with Rwanda), accused of going to sell minerals including coltan at a high price in that country a few months ago.