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| Articles about Condemns |
| Amnesty International condemns Burundi press repression | | 2006-11-30 07:54:00 | | AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement AI Index: AFR 16/022/2006 (Public) News Service No: 307 30 November 2006 Burundi: Freedom of expression under attack once more Amnesty International is concerned at reports of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mathias Manirakiza, the Director of Isanganiro, a private radio station in Burundi, on 29 November. He is currently detained in Mpimba Central Prison in Bujumbura. Mathias Manirakiza has been charged with disturbing public order after broadcasting on 29 August 2006 information about alleged plans to attack the Office of the President, Pierre Nkurunziza, and the home of Hussein Radjabu, the President of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy - Forces for the Defence of Democracy (Conseil national pour la Défense de la Démocratie - Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD-FDD ). Amnesty International believes that the charges against Mathia Manirakiza are an unwarranted restriction on his freedom of expression. As there has been no disturbance of public order since Radio Isanganiro made its broadcast in August 2006, the charges against Mathias Manirakiza do not seem necessary for the protection of public order. Amnesty International is also concerned that the arrest and detention of Mathias Manirakiza may be the latest move in an ongoing strategy by the government to repress freedom of expression in Burundi. The government has repeatedly harassed and intimidated journalists throughout 2006, with an escalation in attacks on freedom of expression in the past week. Serge Nibizi and Domitile Kiramvu, journalists for Radio Publique Africaine, were arrested on 22 November 2006 and charged with threatening state security and violating judicial secrecy. The two journalists commented on a story published in a pro-government newspaper about a plot to overthrow the government in August 2006. Two other journalists, Christelle Ruvari and Bob Rugurika also received a summ... | | By: Agathon Rwasa | | |
| | UN condemns "endemic" sexual violence, torture and killings in Burundi, calls for justice | | 2006-11-28 12:31:00 | | From ReutersBUJUMBURA, 27 November (IRIN) - Human-rights violations have continued in Burundi, despite a new democratically elected government, according to a senior United Nations official in the country.Sexual violence is commonplace, while arbitrary killings, arrests and torture are also happening, according to Ismael Diallo, the director of the human-rights division of the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB)."The human-rights situation has really not improved since the previous government; it has more or less remained the same, except for abuses by the intelligence services, which have become noticeably worse," Diallo said.Burundi is emerging from 13 years of civil strife during which human rights were regularly abused. The current government swept to power in a landslide election in August 2005 pledging to restore order.Diallo noted that abuses by Burundi's national intelligence service, the Service National de Renseignement (SNR), had grown significantly worse over the past few months, with its agents carrying out arbitrary arrests and torturing detainees suspected of being allied to Burundi's last active rebel group, the Forces nationales de libération.Bodies foundIn an October report, an international watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused the SNR of torture and possible involvement in extrajudicial killings that it said went unpunished."Intelligence agents are believed to have been involved in the killing or presumed killing of at least 38 people over the past year," the report said. "Thirty-one people are currently missing and presumed dead in Muyinga [province in the north] with several bodies and body parts having been found in a local river."HRW said that in July, people in Muyinga told human-rights organisations that family members had been arrested and could not be found. At least seven bodies were recovered from the region's River Ruvubu. However, Burundi's government spokesman and minister of information, Ramadhan Karenga, told IRIN the HRW rep... | | By: Agathon Rwasa | | |
| | International Federation of Journalists condemns arrest of Nibizi and Kuramvu | | 2006-11-28 12:28:00 | | From IFEXThe International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the jailing and harassment of journalists by the Burundi government in an apparent reaction to broadcasts that suggested a failed coup attempt was actually staged by the government.Two journalists were imprisoned on Wednesday, apparently in relation to a discussion about a coup attempt that was broadcast live in August on the privately-owned radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA). Two other journalists were summoned to appear in court on Friday over their involvement in the case.On Wednesday, RPA editor-in-chief Serge Nibizi and journalists Domitille Kiramvu and André-Palice Ndimurukundo were summoned to the office of the public prosecutor of Bujumbura. Ndimurukundo was released but Nibizi and Kiramvu were arrested for allegedly threatening state security and broadcasting information on a case under judicial investigation. Journalists Bob Rugurika and Christella Ruvaru of RPA received summonses to appear before the prosecutor on Friday."We firmly condemn this harassment of the journalists of RPA and call for their immediate and unconditional release," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office. "It's a clear attempt [of] the government to muzzle the independent press on issues related to the alleged foiled coup and that would mean that [President] Nkurunziza's regime has something to hide in this case."According to some of their colleagues, in August 2006, RPA journalists read and commented on articles published in the pro-governmental Intumwa newspaper, which reported an alleged conversation between an army officer and an opposition leader regarding a coup attempt. Between 31 July and 20 August, several opposition leaders were accused of plotting a coup and were arrested.Since then, the director of RPA, Alexis Sinduhije, has been in hiding for fear of his security after broadcasting the story.RPA's coverage attempted to prove that it was a fake coup organised by the gove... | | By: Agathon Rwasa | | |
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| UN Torture Committee raises concerns over widespread abuses, condemns immunity for rape and torture, urges creation of special war crimes court | | 2006-11-27 07:18:00 | | In its conclusions on the initial report of Burundi, the Committee took note of the proposed amendments to Burundi's Penal Code, and of Burundi's intention to include articles prohibiting acts of torture, and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including with regard to violence against women and children. Further, it acknowledged the delegation's statement that the Code of Criminal Procedure would be likewise revised over the course of 2007. The Committee welcomed the creation of the Ministry for National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender, the Government Commission on Human Rights and the Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights and the Prevention of Genocide. The Committee remained concerned, however, by the lack of specific provisions in Burundi's Penal Code to define and criminalize torture, and the lack of clarity surrounding the status of the Convention in domestic law. It noted with concern that the rules concerning detention did not explicitly require that detainees be notified of their rights, and was alarmed by information received that torture was a widespread practice in Burundi and that, indeed, there had been hundreds of cases of torture committed between July 2005 and July 2006 – a fact which the State party did not contest. +In addition, it was extremely concerned by reports concerning a high number of forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and secret detentions committed by the National Information Service. The Committee was worried by the double mandate of the Information Service, which was charged both with ensuring State security and judicial police functions, a combination that entailed a high risk that such an entity would be used as an instrument of political repression. It was further alarmed by reports of large scale sexual violence against women and children by State agents and armed groups, as well as recourse to systematized rape as a weapon of war, which was a crime against humanity. The Committee was extre... | | By: Agathon Rwasa | | |
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