CAT/C/71/D/858/2018
in Bujumbura and another near the city. 3 Following these attacks, the security forces
reportedly closed off and combed through several Bujumbura neighbourhoods with ties to
the political opposition with the stated aim of tracking down the armed combatants and
finding hidden weapons. These operations reportedly caused many civilian casualties.4 The
opposition-linked neighbourhoods of Jabe, Nyakabiga, Musaga, Mutakura, Cibitoke and
Ngagara were targeted in these security operations.5 Indeed, the neighbourhood of Cibitoke,
where the victim resided,6 was known to be one of the neighbourhoods that had challenged
President Nkurunziza’s third term in office.
2.2
According to a report by the commission of inquiry set up by the Prosecutor General
of the Republic to shed light on the insurrectionary movement triggered on 26 April 2015, a
criminal file was opened against many members of opposition parties and human rights
defenders belonging to the Halte au troisième mandat (Stop the Third Term) movement, who
were blamed for the “insurrection”.7
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.3
A.H. worked as a plumber and, like his two brothers, was a member of a Burundian
opposition political party, the Movement for Solidarity and Development, which had been
violently suppressed since 2014. In April 2015, A.H. and his two brothers took part in
demonstrations against the renewal of President Nkurunziza’s term in office.
2.4
On 13 December 2015, while he was with his father, B.N., at his home in the
neighbourhood of Cibitoke, Bujumbura Mairie Province, A.H. received a telephone call from
a person inviting him to a meeting in Ngagara commune. Without telling his father who had
telephoned, A.H. left his home in order to travel to the meeting place. When he arrived, at
approximately 2 p.m., A.H. met an acquaintance8 and saw a police vehicle approach. Police
officers from the Unit for the Protection of Institutions got out of the vehicle. All of the men
except one were in uniform; the man in civilian clothing has been identified as Brigadier
Jonas Ndabirinde, who, according to some media reports, is implicated in numerous cases of
abuse.9 When he saw the officers, A.H. attempted to flee, but was pursued and apprehended
by Brigadier Ndabirinde. A.H. was tied up, was violently beaten by the police officers, who
struck him across the back with truncheons and punched him in the face, and was interrogated
at the scene as to the whereabouts of some of the demonstrators. The officers showed him a
document containing the names of some of the protesters they were looking for. Jonas
Ndabirinde then turned to the passers-by who had witnessed the scene and asked them
whether they knew A.H., to which they replied that they did not. The brigadier then stated
that, since they had just said that they did not know him, they should not weep if they were
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
GE.21-12084
2017 detailed final report of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi (A/HRC/36/CRP.1), para. 258.
Available on the Commission’s web page:
www.ohchr.org/FR/HRBodies/HRC/CoIBurundi/Pages/CoIBurundi.aspx.
Ibid.
Amnesty International, “Burundi: suspected mass graves of victims of 11 December violence”, 29
January 2016, p. 1, available at www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr16/3337/2016/en/.
See para. 2.4 below.
Republic of Burundi, Ministry of Justice, Commission d’enquête chargée de faire la lumière sur le
mouvement insurrectionnel déclenché le 26 avril 2015 (Commission of inquiry to shed light on the
insurrectionary movement triggered on 26 April 2015) (Bujumbura, August 2015), available at
www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/20150909_justice_burundaise_rapport-commissionenquete_insurrection_final.pdf.
This person witnessed the facts reported.
The author cites, inter alia, Radio Publique Africaine, “Campagne Ndondeza: Sur les traces du jeune
Albert Kubwimana enlevé par les services de sécurité depuis octobre 2015” (“Ndondeza Campaign:
On the trail of the young Albert Kubwimana, abducted by the security services in October 2015”), 11
May 2017, available at www.rpa.bi/index.php/component/k2/item/1588-minusca-les-policiersburundais-bases-en-centrafrique-attendent-leurs-indemnites-depuis-16-mois, and the Forum pour la
Conscience et le Développement, Declaration No. 010/2017, “Assassinat de Zedi Feruzi: Rapport du
FOCODE” (“Murder of Zedi Feruzi: FOCODE report”), 23 May 2017, available at
www.focode.org/assassinat-de-zedi-feruzi-rapport-focode/.
3