Two women arrested in Rumonge in a land dispute : the defense denounces “judicial harassment”

SOS Médias Burundi
Rumonge, November 9, 2025 –

Yolande Nduwimana and Mariane Nininahazwe have been detained since November 2, 2025, in the Rumonge police station in Burunga province, southern Burundi. They are suspected of rebellion in connection with a land dispute between several families in the Gatete zone and a businessman, Benjamin Bikorimana.

According to police sources, Yolande Nduwimana was arrested for inadvertently sending an audio message to someone close to Benjamin Bikorimana, who then passed it on to the prosecutor. Mariane Nininahazwe was arrested while visiting Yolande Nduwimana at the police station.

The public prosecutor’s office in Rumonge accuses the two women of collecting funds intended to bribe the prosecutor. Investigators claim to have intercepted an audio message presented as evidence of these suspicions.

However, the defense categorically rejects these accusations, asserting that it is a fabrication orchestrated by Benjamin Bikorimana with the complicity of certain officials within the prosecutor’s office.

According to the involved families, these arrests are aimed at intimidating and discouraging plaintiffs in another case of forgery and use of forged documents filed against Mr. Bikorimana at the Bururi Court of Appeal.

The dispute concerns a 65-hectare property located in Gatete village, in the Rumonge district, where Mr. Bikorimana plans to build a residential complex called “Nkurunziza City.” This project is contested by thirteen families, that claim to have never accepted the offers to purchase or partner with the businessman. These families claim ownership of 18 hectares on this site and refuse to relinquish it.

Since the beginning of the conflict, more than a dozen people have been arrested and then released, according to the defense. Nine other members of the families involved are currently living in hiding, fearing arrest themselves.

The families’ lawyers are demanding the immediate release of the two women and are calling on judicial and administration authorities to put an end to the harassment these families are allegedly suffering.