Rumonge: two Imbonerakure suspected of rape of minors locked up

Claude Ntirampeba (29) and Floribert Manirakiza, (25), are detained in the police cell in the capital of the province of Rumonge (southwest of Burundi). Both are members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD, the presidential party. They are prosecuted for “rape of minors”.

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The first is suspected of having raped five little girls in less than a month time, according to local sources. He was arrested on October 18 at his home in the Buruhukiro zone and sent to the cell of the provincial capital the next day. According to police sources, it was residents of Murambi hill, in the Buruhukiro zone (same commune and province of Rumonge) who complained. They claim to have caught him raping two girls aged 5 and 8 in a bush.

“We were alerted by cries of these children,” local men told the local police.

The two children were transferred to a center for the care of victims of sexual violence and to a local public hospital to receive treatment, human rights defenders announced. Police sources indicate that the two victims bring to five the number of Claude Ntirampeba’s “preys.”

“Between September 25 and October 18, Claude raped five little girls in total,” said an officer of the PNB (Burundi National Police) who testified on condition of anonymity. He cited the preliminary investigation report.

The second member of the CNDD-FDD youth league in detention is being prosecuted for a rape he committed on October 6. Floribert Manirakiza worked as a house boy in a household in the locality of Muhanda, still in the Buruhukiro zone. His victim, 11 years old, is a daughter of his employers, according to sources close to the case. He was arrested the same day and sent to the Rumonge police cell. Children’s rights organizations are asking the police to send the files of the two detainees to the public prosecutor’s office as soon as possible.

In Burundi, such cases are generally tried in flagrante delicto. Individuals found guilty of raping minors face up to 30 years in prison in Burundi. In the past, the Imbonerakure have already been cited in several reports by Burundian and international human rights organizations, accusing them of gang rapes.

The ruling party has always denied these allegations, calling them “rumors that have no other aim than to tarnish the image of the Imbonerakure who are only working on the development of the country”.

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Imbonerakure during a day dedicated to them in the commercial city Bujumbura, August 31, 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)