Makamba : an inmate died in the cell of the provincial prosecutor’s office

Jérôme Ndikuriyo died around the early morning of Tuesday in the Makamba prosecutor’s cell (southern Burundi). He had been ill for some time but was not given permission to seek treatment.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Sources close to the prosecution say that the victim was arrested on May 8. The man was detained as part of an investigation related to land disputes.

“He had won the case but the loser refused to harvest the sweet potatoes which were in the part that the Court ceded to Jérôme Ndikuriyo,” testifies a neighbor.

And added, “Jérôme harvested the sweet potatoes then took them to the OPJ to force the owner of the corn field to come and collect his harvest but the OPJ arrested him.”

Jérôme Ndikuriyo was transferred to the Makamba prosecutor’s cell by an officer of the public prosecutor’s office.

Sources close to the prosecution indicate that mediation had been initiated so that the deceased would pay 450,000 Burundi francs to the owner of the sweet potato field.

Even though the victim had agreed to pay this amount on condition of being released to collect the money, the Makamba public prosecutor’s office refused to do so.

Until noon on Tuesday, the public prosecutor in Makamba Claver Sabushimike had not yet been able to speak because he was in the prosecutor’s cell with other judicial officials.

Lawyers in the region say there were two violations.

“The amount to be paid should be determined by the Court only, but also this man should not be arrested in this case,” they lament.

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Photo : detainees crowded into a small cell in the Makamba prosecutor’s custody, December 2023