Cibitoke : the custody of the provincial police station decongested

At least 105 inmates from the custody of the provincial police station in Cibitoke (northwest Burundi) were transferred to the central prison of Mpimba in the commercial city of Bujumbura last Friday. Families of the prisoners speak of satisfaction. Prison overcrowding makes life very hard for inmates in Cibitoke.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The transfer was carried out by the provincial prosecutor.

“105 detainees out of 194 incarcerated in the police station cell have been transferred.
We are concerned about relieving the pressure in this detention center with a capacity of only 40 people,” said Jean Paul Nsavyimana, Cibitoke prosecutor, while specifying that the fuel shortage is the cause of the delay in transferring the detainees.

Local human rights defenders had repeatedly asked competent authorities to relieve the pressure in this cell.

Most of the new tenants of Mpimba prison from Cibitoke are accused of murder, rape of girls and women and cross-border theft committed mainly in Rwanda and the DR Congo.

Police sources say that the operation was carried out thanks to fuel seized by the police in the districts of Buganda and Rugombo, imported into Burundi clandestinely from Congo. The two districts are on the banks of the Rusizi River (separating the DR Congo and Burundi).

Family members of the detainees who were there to say goodbye to their loved ones welcomed this decision.

——-

Illustration photo : inmates inside the central prison of Murembwe during an official ceremony (SOS Médias Burundi)