Gitega : a short arrest of members of the CNL party that leaves questions

Methuselah Nijimbere, Pascal Nyambere and Nestor Ciza were arrested Thursday early in the afternoon by Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) and the police then taken to the dungeons of the National Intelligence Service office (SNR) in Gitega. They were suspected of having held an illegal meeting. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The three members of the opposition CNL party were in the Nyabututsi neighborhood of the town of Gitega when they were arrested.

They were accused of wanting to disrupt a meeting of dissidents from this party, hosted by MP Thérence Manirambona, which was taking place in a local hotel.

In the SNR dungeons in Gitega, they did not undergo any interrogation, but they were forced to reveal their identity, photographed then released around 7 p.m. the same day.

The head of the CNL in the province of Gitega Léopold Ntatama deplores the fact that “the three members were arrested illegally, without an arrest warrant” and denounces “a policy of double standards”.

Léopold Ntatama says he does not understand how “the dissident wing led by MP Immaculée Ntacobakimvuna continues to operate while the Ministry of the Interior keeps repeating that all CNL activities have been suspended.”