Burundi : over 210 people murdered in less than a year (Iteka League Report)

The Human Rights League Iteka is alarmed by the increasing deterioration of the human rights situation a few months before the legislative elections in Burundi. It fears the worst and calls on the government to exercise restraint.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The pioneer of human rights organizations in the small East African nation, “Iteka League”, is sounding the alarm in its latest report on human rights violations.

The report, which covers the period from January to September 2024, paints a largely negative picture.

This organization was able to count more than 210 cases of killings, including “31 attributed to state agents and 10 summary executions”.

The large number is that of people murdered by “people not yet identified and whose bodies are found all over the country,” says the said report. “Given the urgency of burying these bodies by administration officials without prior investigations, the State is therefore held responsible,” the report points out.

Indeed, the organization that works from exile was able to identify 214 arbitrary arrests and 30 cases of kidnapping.

To illustrate, with only a few examples, the Iteka League has documented cases of killings in Bugendana (Gitega-center), Kayanza (north), Rugombo (Cibitoke-northwest), Nyanza-lac (Makamba-south), Muramvya – Bujumbura (center-west), the prisons of Mpimba (Bujumbura-commercial city) and Bururi (south) to name just these cases.

This organization, most often cited by the American State Department in its annual reports, is concerned about the phenomenon of kidnappings, arbitrary arrests as well as torture and inhuman treatment or sexual violence that does not diminish.

The CNL more targeted…

According to the report, the victims who could be identified are members of the opposition parties, in this case the CNL.

“The intelligence services arrest or kidnap members of the CNL party loyal to Agathon Rwasa. And many bodies found are buried in secret without investigation,” regrets the Iteka League, which calls on the UN human rights protection mechanisms to closely monitor “this situation which risks worsening during the election period.” Agathon Rwasa is the contested traditional CNL leader.

Journalists, human rights defenders as well as whistleblowers or opinion leaders are also oppressed, according to the Iteka League.

Perpetrators…

According to the Iteka League document, the perpetrators are mainly agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR), police officers as well as unknown persons but operating in broad daylight with vehicles whose registration numbers are identified by the public.

“This assumes that they benefit from the complicity of the law enforcement and security services as they remain unpunished. It is then appropriate to wonder if this phenomenon of abduction is not linked to the bodies discovered in nature and buried immediately by the administration without investigation in violation of the law”, analyzes the oldest human rights organization in Burundi.

While giving specific examples, the report cites cases where police officers or intelligence agents have killed people with live bullets, including prisoners.

“State agents such as police officers are guilty of abuse by shooting live bullets with impunity at victims, such as alleged thieves or fraudsters and sometimes without any reason and generally in circumstances that do not justify the use of firearms”, says the report.

“There are also cases of prisoners who succumb to their illnesses following the refusal of access to appropriate health care by prison officials”, continues the document.

In other cases, the Iteka League incriminates Imbonerakure, the youth league affiliated with the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD.

“The Imbonerakure militiamen of the ruling CNDD-FDD party arrogate to themselves the right to intimidate and harass political opponents.

Generally illegally involved in the maintenance of order and security by administration authorities, they take advantage of this to impose illegal fines and do not hesitate to kill those who do not comply, even though the death penalty has been abolished in the Burundian law,” maintains the report released last November.

the would-be justice…

However, the Iteka League welcomes the effort, albeit minimal, of the government for having succeeded in arresting and prosecuting some of the alleged perpetrators.

“Sometimes, they are arrested by the courts to calm the anger of the victims and the population, but nothing guarantees fair and equitable trials in the criminal cases that concern them because they generally benefit from the support of the ruling party and the political-administrative administration,” says the organization that has been working in exile since 2015.

To conclude, the Iteka League finds that the legislative and district elections of 2025 and the presidential elections of 2027 are looking bad and that the noose is likely to tighten, especially against the assumed and presumed opponents and these elections will take place in a context of continuous violations of human rights.

“[…] It is for all these reasons that we ask all international human rights mechanisms to closely monitor the situation in Burundi. It risks deteriorating further with the electoral fever that is beginning to manifest itself through the blocking of democratic space and political intolerance in the run-up to the 2025 legislative elections,” the report recommends.

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President Évariste Ndayishimiye reviews troops on the sidelines of the Independence Day celebrations in the commercial city of Bujumbura, July 1, 2022 (SOS Médias Burundi)