Rumonge : the president of the First Instance Court escapes prison

Suspected of misappropriation of seized loincloths and of undermining the proper functioning of the national economy, the president of the First Instance Court was not imprisoned, despite the declaration of the spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security who had affirmed that he was detained in the central prison of Bururi (southern Burundi). Judges and prosecutors denounce “double standards”. Other judges are in fact imprisoned for undermining the proper functioning of the national economy for acts described as less serious than those accused of the president of the said Court. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The president of the Rumonge First Instance Court (southwest Burundi) has been at home in Rumonge since Friday evening.

Contrary to the statements of the spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security, Pierre Nkurikiye, who confirmed his arrest and detention at the central prison of Bururi, judicial sources on site revealed that he never set foot in this detention house.

Outlines

Senior members of the ruling party vehemently opposed his imprisonment.

While the police announced his entry into prison on Thursday evening, the brand new secretary of the CNDD-FDD party of the new province of Burunga and the district secretary of this party in Bururi were on site. He is said to have benefited from the unwavering support of these two tenors of the CNDD-FDD.

Residents who were told about his arrest were around the central prison of Bururi to see if the president of the Rumonge Court was really going to enter it.

“No one saw him and he never set foot there. On Friday morning, some residents of downtown Bururi saw him moving freely.”

According to our sources, Gaspard Nahayo appeared again at the public prosecutor’s office at the Bururi Court of Appeal for questioning.

“A deal was concluded on Thursday night between the provincial secretary of the CNDD-FDD party and the general prosecutor’s office at the Court of Appeal not to put him in prison”, a source close to the matter explained to SOS Médias Burundi.

On Friday, October 27, the president of the First Instance Court arrived in Rumonge under the escort of the attorney general at the Bururi Court of Appeal.

According to judicial sources, “the general public prosecutor’s office at the Bururi Court of Appeal affirmed that additional judicial investigations continue in Rumonge to collect more elements that could justify his guilt.”

Breaking

There is great disappointment in the judicial community in Rumonge and Bururi.

Judges and prosecutors did not hide their dismay at what they described as a “parody of justice”.

They say that judges and magistrates who are not members of the ruling party are languishing in Bururi prison. They are accused of undermining the proper functioning of the national economy for having issued free of charge a copy of a judgment to a litigant who had not paid a sum of 6,000 Burundi francs to the public treasury.

They denounce what they consider to be “double standards” and call on the President of the Republic, Évariste Ndayishimiye, to intervene in this matter in relation to the misappropriation of loincloths of which the president of the Rumonge First Instance Court is guilty.

The same judicial sources say that the current investigation carried out by the general prosecutor’s office at the Court of Appeal is believed to be biased, with the clear intention of exonerating the alleged perpetrator.

The very zealous spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security has not yet commented on “his false statement” concerning the imprisonment of Gaspard Nahayo, a very sulphurous activist of the former Hutu rebellion, who was heard in an audio recording of him bragging about having mistreated opponents including a deputy from the main opposition party, CNL.