CAT/C/71/D/858/2018
1.1
The complainant is B.N., a national of Burundi born in 1948 in Gisozi commune,
Mwaro Province. He is the father of the victim, A.H., a national of Burundi born in 1980 in
the same commune and the victim of an enforced disappearance on 14 December 2015. The
complainant claims that Burundi has violated articles 2 (1), 11, 12, 13 and 14, read in
conjunction with article 1 and, in the alternative, article 16 of the Convention, in respect of
the victim and articles 12, 13 and 14, read in conjunction with article 1 and, in the alternative,
article 16 of the Convention, in respect of the complainant. Burundi acceded to the
Convention on 18 February 1993 and made the declaration under article 22 (1) of the
Convention on 10 June 2003. The complainant is represented by TRIAL (Track Impunity
Always).
1.2
On 7 November 2018, the complainant’s counsel informed the Committee that, on 17
June 2018, the complainant, B.N., had died of natural causes. Subsequently, one of B.N.’s
sons and A.H.’s brother, S.R., agreed that the proceedings should be continued and formally
authorized counsel to act on his behalf. S.R. thus requested the Committee to consider him
to be the new complainant.
1.3
On 22 December 2017, the complainant had requested the Committee to grant interim
measures of protection. On 12 January 2018, pursuant to rule 114 of its rules of procedure,
the Committee decided to accede to the request to grant interim measures and requested the
State party to immediately adopt all necessary measures to protect the life, safety and
personal integrity of the complainant and the victim, and to ensure that no irreparable harm
would be caused to them while the complaint was pending.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
General context
2.1
In August 2010, President Pierre Nkurunziza, who had first been elected in 2005, was
re-elected for a second term. The subsequent crackdown on members of opposition parties
was characterized by the frequent use of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances
and acts of torture and intimidation. From April 2015, Burundi once again saw escalating
violence and serious human rights violations, following Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand
for a third term, which was deemed contrary to the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation
Agreement for Burundi by the international community and Burundian civil society.1 Large
demonstrations against a third term subsequently took place and were forcefully suppressed
by the authorities, with live ammunition and grenades used against the demonstrators. On 13
May 2015, a coup attempt failed; it was followed by a heavy crackdown against all those
with suspected links to the attempt. On 21 July 2015, Pierre Nkurunziza was re-elected in a
very tense climate. The number of demonstrations decreased, but a new period of violence
began, with targeted killings, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, acts of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and enforced disappearances, among other
abuses. The report on the independent investigation on Burundi carried out pursuant to
Human Rights Council resolution S-24/1, submitted to the Council at its thirty-third session
in 2016, found that more than 1,000 people were killed during the crisis. Thousands more
were reportedly tortured, unknown numbers of women were subjected to various forms of
sexual crime, hundreds of people disappeared and thousands were illegally detained.2 During
the night of 10–11 December 2015, unidentified armed persons attacked three military bases
1
2
2
United Nations, “Conseil de sécurité: examen de la situation au Burundi, marquée par un climat de
peur et des restrictions aux libertés en marge des élections du 29 juin et du 15 juillet” (“Security
Council: Consideration of the situation in Burundi, characterized by a climate of fear and restrictions
on freedoms in the context of the elections of 29 June and 15 July”), Meetings coverage and press
releases, 9 July 2015, available at www.un.org/press/fr/2015/cs11963.doc.htm; and Radio France
Internationale, “Présidentielle au Burundi: Ban Ki-moon tente de raisonner Nkurunziza”
(“Presidential elections in Burundi: Ban Ki-moon tries to reason with Nkurunziza”), 29 March 2015,
available at www.rfi.fr/afrique/20150329-presidentielle-burundi-ban-ki-moon-tente-raisonnernkurunziza.
A/HRC/33/37, para. 35.
GE.21-12084