New development in the Bunyoni affair: Bunyoni and his co-defendants demand to be cleared
This Tuesday, May 28, the plea in the second degree on appeal before the Supreme Court in the Bunyoni case closed. The former prime minister and his co-defendants asked the court to release them to return to their normal life. The judges’ decision is expected within a period not exceeding one month.
INFO SOS Médias Burundi
The public prosecutor kept the same accusations and demanded the same sentences. According to his representative in this case, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni should spend the rest of his days in prison. General Bunyoni protested against this request which led the first judge to sentence him to life in prison.
“There is no evidence, presented before judging me and the first judge did not use any legal element”, tried to convince the second level of the supreme court, the former Burundian prime minister.
Three co-defendants also demand to be acquitted. They are police colonel Désiré Uwamahoro, former commander of the anti-riot brigade, Samuel Destiné Bapfumukeko (Burundian senior intelligence official) and Côme Niyonsaba, former Bunyoni engineer. They received 15 years in prison in the first-degree in December 2023. The much-feared police colonel Désiré Uwamahoro appeared before the bar with his Bible in hand, desperate and weakened, witnesses noted.
The president of the second level of appeal, Emmanuel Gateretse who is also president of the supreme court, informed those concerned that the decision of his court should be made within a period not exceeding one month.
Two other people accused in the same case as the former Hutu rebel have not filed an appeal. They are serving a three-year sentence with the possibility of benefiting from provisional release after serving a quarter of their sentence.
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New development in the Bunyoni affair: Bunyoni and his co-defendants demand to be cleared
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