2025 elections: a CNL activist sentenced to one year in jail for destroying a voter registration card

SOS Médias Burundi

Rutana, May 17, 2025 – With three weeks to go before the legislative and district elections in Burundi, political tensions are intensifying. Arrests of activists, the destruction of voter registration cards, and accusations of fraud are fueling concerns in several provinces, particularly Rutana and Makamba in the southeast of the small east African nation.

In Rutana province, a young activist from the National Council for Freedom (CNL), Gilbert Hatungimana, 22 years old, was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison. The Rutana First Instance Court found him guilty of snatching and tearing up a voter registration card.

The incident occurred on May 12 in Kivoga village, in the Gitaba region. According to the indictment, Gilbert Hatungimana allegedly intercepted a child holding a voter registration card belonging to his mother. He then allegedly stole the document before destroying it. Tried in flagrante delicto, he was convicted of destroying an electoral document, a serious offense during the pre-election period.

Rising tensions over voter registration cards

This incident occurs in an increasingly tense climate, particularly in the south of the country, where allegations of irregularities are increasing. In Nyanza-Lac district, Makamba province, several village chiefs are accused of confiscating seasonal workers’ voter registration cards and handing them over to local CNDD-FDD offices. Witnesses report attempts to vote in their place. Local authorities have not yet publicly responded to these accusations, but members of the civil society speak of an “organized system of electoral manipulation” orchestrated at the community level.

Targeted arrests of opponents?

Furthermore, the recent arrest of Siméon, an activist of the Sahwanya-FRODEBU party and a member of the Burundi bwa Bose opposition coalition, continues to spark outrage. According to several sources, he was arrested in a bar in Kazirabageni village after simply showing his voter registration card during a discussion with a CNDD-FDD activist. Alerted, members of the Imbonerakure, the youth league of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, called local authorities, who immediately arrested him. He is currently held at the Nyanza-Lac district police station.

Calls for a fair process

Both within the opposition and human rights organizations, calls for a fair and peaceful electoral climate are growing. Several voices denounce the instrumentalization of local institutions and intimidation practices that undermine confidence in the process.

A recurring pattern in Burundian elections

Such abuses are not new. During the 2020 general elections, numerous opposition activists were arbitrarily arrested, some accused of “disturbing public order” for simply organizing political meetings. In 2015, the electoral crisis, marked by another controversial term for the late President Pierre Nkurunziza, was also preceded by acts of intimidation, enforced disappearances, and bloody repression. With each electoral cycle, the same practices seem to resurface, to the detriment of a peaceful and inclusive democratic process.