Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Burundi.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Burundi. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Burundi U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/burundi/
[accessed 6 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The constitution
and law prohibit cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, but
there were numerous reports government officials employed these practices.
NGOs reported cases of torture committed by security services or members of
the Imbonerakure. As of September, Ligue Iteka reported 103 such
cases, down from 201 the previous year, attributing 70 to members of the Imbonerakure, eight to police, five to members of local
government, and 20 to the SNR. According to Human Rights Watch, some
Burundian refugees in other countries testified they fled the country after
they or their family members suffered violence, including rape, torture, and
illegal detention by members of the Imbonerakure.
The press reported throughout the year that Imbonerakure
members arrested, threatened, beat, tortured, or inflicted a combination of
the foregoing on members of the CNL party. The COI report
concluded that acts of torture continued to be committed, including sexual
and gender-based violence affecting mostly women and girls but also men. Such
violence aimed at intimidating, controlling, repressing, or punishing women
and men for their supposed or actual political opinions, their refusal to
join the ruling party, or their links with an armed movement. According to
the COI, assailants beat, kicked, or struck victims with sticks or batons
while wounding others with sharp objects. The COI report
linked acts of torture to members of the Imbonerakure,
often acting alone but sometimes in concert with or with approval from police
or local administrative officials. Imbonerakure
were regularly deployed to supplement or replace security forces,
particularly in rural areas, at the request of or with the consent of senior
officials of the SNR, police, the Office of the President, and local
authorities. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prisons did not
have adequate sanitation systems (toilets and bathing facilities), drinking
water, ventilation, and lighting. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/burundi/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE
OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? The general
security situation in Burundi is poor. A September 2017 report issued by a
Commission of Inquiry on Burundi convened by the UN Human Rights Council
documented crimes committed over the last two years that were “frequently of
an extremely cruel nature, particularly extrajudicial executions, arbitrary
arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, acts of torture and other
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and sexual violence.” The report said
the defense and security forces were the “principal perpetrators of human
rights violations in Burundi.” It noted that armed opposition groups had also
committed human rights violations, but said that they were harder to
document, in part because the government declined to cooperate with
investigators. Bodies—presumed to
be the victims of extrajudicial killings—were frequently found on the streets
of the capital during the year, and refugees claimed that the murders of
family members by the Imbonerakure prompted them to
flee the country. More than 420,000 refugees had fled Burundi in response to
the ongoing crisis, according to December 2017 data from the UN refugee
agency. A June 2017 report published jointly by the International Federation
for Human Rights and Burundian human rights groups said that over the two
years of the conflict, at least 1,200 people had been killed, 400 to 900
forcibly disappeared, at least several hundred tortured, and more than 10,000
detained arbitrarily. Burundi lawyers
face disbarment over remarks to U.N. torture watchdog - rights experts Reuters, 8 August
2016 uk.reuters.com/article/uk-burundi-rights-idUKKCN10J1TQ www.foxnews.com/world/2016/08/08/burundi-lawyers-threatened-un-committee-on-torture-objects.html [accessed 8 August
2016] Four Burundian
lawyers who gave information to the United Nations about alleged torture in
their central African country face disbarment as retribution for their
testimony, U.N. human rights experts said on Monday. The committee of 10
independent experts examined Burundi's record, voicing concern at allegations
of killings and torture of opposition figures by the ruling CNDD-FDD party's
youth wing Imbonerakure. "On 29 July, a
Burundian prosecutor asked the president of the Bujumbura Bar Council to
strike the lawyers off, alleging that they had committed several offences,
including involvement in an insurrectionist movement and an attempted
coup," it said. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] BURUNDI IMPUNITY - Most of the
perpetrators of scores of extrajudicial killings and other acts of political
violence between 2010 and 2012 continue to evade justice. An appeal hearing
in the case of Deputy Police Commissioner Michel Nurweze, alias Rwembe
(“razor blade” in Kirundi), was held on November 6 after being repeatedly
delayed for more than a year. In a rare prosecution of an official for human
rights abuses, a court in Gitega had tried Nurweze in 2013 on charges of
murder, torture, and attempted murder. However, after at least two
prosecution witnesses refused to testify due to a lack of adequate
protection, he was acquitted for murder and torture but found guilty of
grievous bodily harm and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. He was
released as he had already served a year in prison. Three police
officers accused of involvement in the killing of nine religious worshippers
at Businde in March 2013 had not been tried at time of writing. They were
arrested in 2013 and provisionally released after three months. There were
further arrests of worshippers from the same informal spiritual movement who
make monthly pilgrimages to Businde. UN Committee
against Torture’s Concluding Observations on Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela,
Australia, Burundi, USA, Croatia and Kazakhstan Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights OHCHR, Geneva, 24 November 2014 www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15336&LangID=E [accessed 7 December
2014] The UN Committee
against Torture will be holding a news conference to discuss the concluding
observations of its 53rd session ... Among the issues discussed during the
session: BURUNDI: Allegations of
torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and prison officers;
sub-standard conditions of detention; no independent body to monitor places
of detention; high numbers in custody and pre-trial detention; political
violence; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/BDI/CO/1
(2007) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/burundi2007.html [accessed 24
February 2013] 8. While it
welcomes with satisfaction the planned revision of the Criminal Code, which
should contain a definition of torture, as announced by the delegation of the
State party, the Committee is concerned at the lack of provisions in the
Criminal Code in force containing an explicit definition of torture and
criminalizing torture, in accordance with articles 1 and 4 of the
Convention. The Committee is also
concerned at the lack of clarity with regard to the status of the Convention
in Burundi’s domestic law, and the fact that the Convention is not invoked
before the competent judicial and administrative authorities (arts. 1 and 4). The State party
should take urgent measures to include in its Criminal Code a definition of
torture that is in conformity with article 1 of the Convention, as well as
provisions criminalizing acts of torture and imposing criminal penalties
proportionate to the gravity of the acts committed. The State party should also clarify the
status of the Convention in its domestic law in order to enable all persons
who claim to have been subjected to torture to invoke the Convention before
the competent judicial and administrative authorities. 9. While it
welcomes the planned reform of Burundi’s judicial system, which was announced
by the delegation of the State party, the Committee notes with concern that
the current provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to police
custody do not explicitly refer to the notification of rights, including the
presence of a lawyer from the first hours in police custody and the medical
examination of persons held in police custody. The Committee is also concerned at the lack
of provisions on legal aid for disadvantaged persons. Moreover, the Committee is concerned at the
length of police custody, which can last as long as 14 days, a period that is
not in keeping with the generally accepted international norms on the subject. Finally, the
Committee is deeply concerned at reports that there have been several hundred
cases of illegal detention owing to the fact that persons were held in police
custody longer than the period authorized by law (arts. 2 and 11). The State party
should amend the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to
police custody in order to ensure the effective prevention of violations of
the physical and mental integrity of persons held in police custody,
including by guaranteeing their right to habeas corpus, the right to inform a
close relation and the right to consult a lawyer and physician of their
choice or an independent physician during the first hours in police custody,
as well as access to legal aid for the most disadvantaged persons. The State party
should, in addition, bring the practice of pretrial detention into conformity
with the international standards relating to a fair trial and should ensure
that the trial takes place within a reasonable time. 10. The Committee
is alarmed at reports that torture is a widespread practice in the State
party. According to these reports,
which were not challenged by the delegation of the State party, several
hundred cases of torture were registered between July 2005 and July 2006. Moreover, the Committee is deeply concerned
at reports received concerning a high number of forced disappearances,
arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions, the main perpetrators of
which are allegedly officials of the National Intelligence Service. In this regard, the Committee is concerned
at the dual mandate of the National Intelligence Service, which is
responsible for State security and is also active in criminal investigation,
since this entails the risk that the Service might be used as a means of
political repression (art. 2) Human Rights Recommendations
for Geneva Conference Human Rights Watch,
October 26, 2012 www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/26/burundi-human-rights-recommendations-geneva-conference [accessed 21 January
2013] Under the heading
“Promoting human rights”, the PRSP states that “human rights violations such
as torture, assassinations and rape must stop immediately”. It also
highlights the need to strengthen security and pursue reforms to train and
professionalize the army and make the police force an instrument of
protection for both people and property. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- A commission of inquiry into allegations of torture in 2010 by the National
Intelligence Service (SNR) failed to report publicly. No judicial
investigations or prosecutions were initiated into the allegations. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=burundi+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61557.htm [accessed 21 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61557.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the
constitution prohibits such practices, members of the security forces
continued to torture and otherwise abuse persons, which reportedly resulted
in several deaths. Throughout the year
multiple credible sources reported that the security forces maintained
illegal detention and torture centers across the country. League Iteka, the UN, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the
Burundian Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons
(APRODH) reported that members of the security forces beat and tortured
civilians and detainees throughout the year. Multiple credible
sources reported that agents of Documentation National (DN), the civilian
intelligence service, arbitrarily detained and tortured people thought to be
members and supporters of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. According to these sources, DN
agents tortured these individuals by beating them with batons, breaking their
feet, tying them or chaining them, using clamps on their genitals, using
needles on their feet, rubbing chili oil and salt into wounds, placing them
in isolation chambers without food for prolonged periods of time, and
repeatedly threatening to execute them. These sources also reported that DN
Chief Major General Adolphe Nshimirimana
was sometimes present while detainees were tortured. There were frequent
reports by League Iteka and APRODH that prison
authorities tortured detainees and prisoners using methods similar to those
described above. On January 17, in
the Rubira commune of Bujumbura Rural Province,
members of the FDN detained and beat a man who refused to give them his
bicycle. After a March 21
visit to a detention facility in Bujumbura, League Iteka
reported that four detainees showed signs of having been beaten with batons
and clubs. On April 7, in the Nyarabira commune of Bujumbura Rural Province, members of
the FDN detained five brick masons after they passed nearby a military
position. FDN members reportedly beat them during their detention before
eventually releasing them. There were no
developments in the February 2004 torture of civilians by CNDD-FDD members,
the April 2004 robbery and beating of a judge by soldiers, the April 2004 torture
of civilians in the Mutimbuzi commune of Bujumbura
Rural Province by CNDD-FDD members, or the September 2004 beating of five
students by CNDD-FDD members in the Mutimbuzi
commune of Bujumbura Rural Province. Although precise
figures remained unavailable, there were numerous reports that members of the
security forces raped women and young girls with impunity (see section 1.g.).
For example members of the FDN reportedly committed at least 21 rapes in
February in Kayanza, Muramvya,
and Cibitoke provinces; 11 of these cases involved
minors. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/burundi [accessed 21 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] The judicial system
is seriously burdened by a lack of resources and training, and by corruption.
Given Burundi’s recent history, there are far more pending cases than can
easily be handled by the current judiciary, and many
of them are politically sensitive. The government has yet to establish a
special tribunal called for by the United Nations. Many crimes go unreported.
According to Amnesty International, conditions in prisons continue to be
“subhuman” and at times life-threatening. Despite extensive negotiations and
discussions regarding the establishment of some form of broad-based truth
commission to address past human rights violations, no such body has yet been
created despite the naming of its head. Several national and international
human rights organizations have previously criticized the practices of the
security services in Burundi and have reported that individuals opposed to
the CNDD are particularly at risk of torture or worse. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Burundi", http://gvnet.com/torture/Burundi.htm, [accessed <date>] |
