Bujumbura: A prisoner deprived of care on the brink of death

Léonidas Nyandwi (67 years old) is in agony. He was unable to obtain 4 million Burundian francs demanded by the hospital to treat him. This inmate detained in the central prison of Bujumbura (political capital), Mpimba risks dying if nothing is done, according to his relatives.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Léonidas Nyandwi is detained since 2017 for “theft” in a COOPEC (Savings and Credit Cooperative) agency located in the province of Gitega (central Burundi). That year, the person concerned was tortured by a police officer in the province at the time. One of his testicles was seriously injured.

“Little by little, he started having problems urinating until the situation got worse,” witnesses say.

Leonidas Nyandwi was detained at the central prison of Gitega, in the political capital. Four years later, he was transferred to Bujumbura and was received by the Roi Khaled hospital.

There, the bill was set at 4 million Burundian francs. However, the prisoner’s family was not ready to pay it. Unable to keep him or treat him, the hospital gave him a urinary catheter before returning to the prison of Mpimba.

Witnesses confirm that Leonidas Nyandwi’s health is getting worse every day.

“He is admitted to a small dispensary in the prison. When you enter his room, you are greeted by a nauseating smell. It is really deplorable,” they say.

Sources at Mpimba Central Prison and relatives believe that he should either receive medical care or be released.

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Prisoner Léonidas Nyandwi whose health is deteriorating every day, DR