Giharo: an influential CNDD-FDD member in detention

Nestor Butisi, an influential member of the ruling party in the district of Giharo in the province of Rutana (south-eastern Burundi) was arrested last Monday. He is suspected of fraud in fertilizers and the manufacture of prohibited drinks. He is held in the provincial prison. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to residents of the town center of Giharo district, it is the police that arrested him after a search of his home.

The police seized 35 bags of chemical fertilizers, 17 bags of sugar, 9 cans of prohibited drinks from his home.

This influential CNDD-FDD member was kept in the Giharo district police station cell for 24 hours.

He was picked up by the public prosecutor in Rutana the day after his arrest before being transferred to the provincial prison last Thursday afternoon.

Sources within the ruling party say that the district secretary of the CNDD-FDD party in the district of Giharo convinced the prosecutor so that his trial should not be held in the act of “fraudulent trafficking of fertilizers” in accordance with the government’s requirements in terms of fight against the illicit trade in fertilizers.

A district agronomist who also campaigns for the ruling party was arrested last year, accused of diverting several tons of agricultural inputs. He did not spend much time in the dungeon at the Rutana prosecutor’s office. He was released on the order of CNDD-FDD officials.

Mr. Butisi has been cited in several acts of abuse against Rutana opponents, including arbitrary arrests.