CAT/C/62/D/493/2012
that three individuals, including the complainant, had been subjected to torture and that the
defendants were not permitted to see lawyers or doctors.
2.6
On 9 August 2006, when he had been held in the Intelligence Service cells for a
week, the complainant was brought before the public prosecutor at Bujumbura city hall and
formally charged with involvement in an attempted coup d’état. He was then transferred to
Mpimba central prison. On 10 August 2006, at the insistence of the complainant’s family
and humanitarian associations, he was transferred to the Kamenge military hospital for
treatment. On the basis of the medical findings, the lawyer appointed to the complainant
following his transfer to Mpimba prison reported the acts of torture to the investigating
judge and requested the latter to order an expert opinion so that a medical certificate could
be issued. On 17 August 2006, a medical certificate was issued at the request of the
investigating judge; it confirmed the presence of multiple linear and ecchymotic marks and
stated that the complainant “has been subjected to beatings and intentional injury. The
painful palpation of all the injuries suggests that they are recent. The profusion of lesions of
the same kind over almost the entire body is reminiscent of torture”.2 The investigating
judge, despite having agreed to the medical examination, took no action on the findings in
the medical report, and no investigation into the case was opened. On 22 September 2006,
on the basis of the medical certificate, the complainant’s lawyer lodged a formal complaint
with the Bujumbura public prosecutor.3
2.7
The complainant was held for more than five months at Mpimba prison in appalling
conditions that were exacerbated by overcrowding, with serious consequences for the
prisoners’ health and safety. He was released on 16 January 2007, having been acquitted
the previous day for lack of evidence in the proceedings against him and several others for
an attempted coup d’état.
2.8
In addition to the steps taken before the judicial authorities, the acts inflicted on the
complainant were brought to the attention of government and administrative authorities by
a number of national and international human rights organizations, notably by means of a
call for urgent action by Amnesty International on 3 and 4 August 2006 and by the World
Organization against Torture on 1 September 2006. On 4 August 2006, a coalition of 10
human rights organizations based in Burundi 4 adopted a statement publicly condemning the
arrest and detention of several people, including the complainant, who was specifically
named in the statement. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (the
Special Rapporteur on torture) also took joint action in an urgent appeal on behalf of the
complainant on 10 August 2006. The complainant also refers to the concluding
observations adopted by the Committee against Torture following its consideration of the
State party’s periodic report in 2006, in which it called on the authorities to conduct an
immediate and impartial inquiry pursuant to reports that several of the persons detained for
allegedly attempting a coup were subjected to torture (see CAT/C/BDI/CO/1, para. 12).
2.9
Thus, the Burundian authorities were informed repeatedly of the torture suffered by
the complainant and could not therefore have been unaware of it. However, at the time of
the submission of the communication to the Committee, more than five years had passed
since the incidents had taken place and no action had been taken on the complaint.
Deficiencies in the judicial system and risks to his physical and psychological integrity
prevented the complainant from taking other steps to assert his rights. In particular, he was
unable to apply to the Attorney General to complain about the inaction of the deputy public
prosecutor and to request an investigation, since, in the meantime, the deputy prosecutor
had become the Attorney General and the complainant would therefore have been obliged
2
3
4
GE.18-00819
A copy of the medical certificate is annexed to the file.
A copy of the complaint is annexed to the file.
Ligue Iteka, Observatoire de l’action gouvernementale, Action by Christians for the Abolition of
Torture, Association pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes détenues, Forum pour le
renforcement de la société civile, Ligue des droits de la personne dans la région des Grands Lacs
(Antenne Burundi), Organisation de lutte contre la corruption et les malversations économiques,
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Burundi, Human Rights
Watch and Avocats sans frontières.
3