Bururi : two opposition figures convicted of electoral offenses, one acquitted

Bururi, June 8, 2025 – The First Instance Court of Bururi, in the south of the small east African nation, convicted two members of opposition political parties on Saturday evening, in a flagrante delicto trial, for offenses related to the electoral process. They are Juvenal Kabura, a CNL party activist and member of the Songa district council, and Ernest Manirakiza, an electoral monitor of the APDR party. A third defendant, Marc Ndabicamwo, was acquitted.

Juvenal Kabura was found guilty of bribing voters. According to the prosecution, he was caught in Matana distributing money with the aim of influencing the vote. The court sentenced him to a fine of 800,000 Burundi francs, failing which he will be sentenced to one year of penal servitude.

Ernest Manirakiza, for his part, was sentenced to a fine of 400,000 Burundi francs or, in default of payment, two years of penal servitude. He was arrested in Bitezi in possession of three voter registration cards, which led to his prosecution for election disruption, according to the prosecution.

Marc Ndabicamwo, accused of attempting to disrupt the elections in the Muzenga zone, was acquitted. Originally from Kiremba village in Bururi province, he had denied the charges, denouncing the accusations as baseless.

Trials deemed biased by some residents

While the courts asserted that they acted independently in the flagrante delicto judgments, several residents of the Bururi provincial town center question the impartiality of these decisions. Some denounce judicial harassment of opposition activists.

“No one affiliated with the ruling party has been prosecuted, even though massive electoral fraud has been documented in our province, notably committed by the Imbonerakure—members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD, the ruling party—and certain polling station officials supported by administration authorities,” said one resident, speaking anonymously.

A tense political climate

These convictions come in a tense electoral climate, where the opposition regularly denounces intimidation and irregularities orchestrated by local authorities and structures affiliated with the ruling party.