Twist in the Bunyoni case : the list of accusations extends to the second level

General Alain Guillaume appeared on appeal before the Supreme Court on Monday. The hearing took place at the central prison of Gitega (political capital). The public prosecutor raised a new accusation. According to him, the former Burundian prime minister tried to convince Tanzania’s ruling party, CCM (Chama cha Mapinduzi), to help him overthrow the institutions.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The judges of the Supreme Court sat in Gitega prison. The court is generally based in the commercial capital Bujumbura, about a hundred kilometers from Gitega. On Monday began another appeal trial for former Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, sentenced in December 2023 to a life jail at the first level.

In the May 27 hearing attended by at least 70 people, the public prosecutor raised a new accusation : General Bunyoni tried to convince the ruling CCM in Tanzania to “plot against the current regime and overthrow the institutions in Burundi.

The former Burundian prime minister retorted that “the only thing I have considered is to advise the secretary general of the CNDD-FDD, Révérien Ndikuriyo so that he continues to maintain good relations with the CCM.” The CCM is considered by several local and foreign observers to be the godfather of the former Hutu rebellion, in power in Burundi thanks to the Arusha Agreement of August 2000.

“But I didn’t get a chance to see it,” he said. He indicated that he had sent his wishes to the head of the ruling party via another commissioner of this party.

Why did Bunyoni flee his home?

During his arrest in April 2023, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni was hiding in the locality of Mubone, in the district of Kabezi in the province of Bujumbura (west Burundi), announced the public prosecutor’s office of the Republic at the time. On Monday, the former Burundian prime minister explained the reasons which pushed him to flee his home, which he describes as a “tactical withdrawal”. He made this revelation without being asked by the judges.

“Police Brigadier General Emmanuel Ndayiziga (Chief of Staff of the SNR – National Intelligence Service) brought together the generals and ordered them to kill me, Lieutenant General Silas Ntigurirwa (Chief of Military Staff in the President’s Office Évariste Ndayishimiye) informed me of this,” he revealed.

And he continued, “Having the experience of Lieutenant General Adolphe Nshimirimana who was assassinated in broad daylight by men in uniform and whose assassins were not apprehended as well as that of the assassination of Colonel Darius Ikurakure at the ofice of the army general staff, all these reasons pushed me to leave my home to make a tactical withdrawal”.

Lieutenant General Adolphe Nshimirimana, former chief of Burundian intelligence and pillar of the CNDD-FDD, and Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure, both cited in acts of repression against opponents of the CNDD-FDD regime, were former Hutu rebels like Bunyoni . The first was assassinated in a rocket attack on August 2, 2015, the second was assassinated on March 23, 2016 in the grounds of the Burundian army headquarters in the commercial city Bujumbura.

On Monday, the former Burundian prime minister recalled having paid money in foreign currency to Bob Rugurika, director of RPA (African Public Radio), broadcasting from exile since its destruction following the failed coup d’état of spring 2015. He insisted that “I monetized the information but Bob Rugurika has never been my friend because I know that he is an enemy of our system, a system for which I fought for ten years in the name of democracy.

Search…

At least 70 people attended Monday’s session. These are the Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) mobilized to simulate an audience, one of Bunyoni’s daughters, namely Joy Akimana, a few journalists, agents of the Burundian secret services, a representative of the CNIDH (National Independent Human Rights Commission) and a representative of the National Council of the Judiciary in particular. If the participants were not forced to undress as was the case for Joy Akimana on May 22 when she visited her father as revealed by the famous Burundian activist Pacifique Nininahazwe in exile, they were carefully searched until they took off their shoes.

“No object was allowed in the room where the hearing took place,” noted witnesses who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi.

The hearing is to continue on Tuesday at the same Gitega prison

——————-

Illustration photo : former Prime Minister of Burundi Alain Guillaume Bunyoni in an official ceremony