CAT/C/71/D/843/2017
2.6
On 21 March 2014, the Bujumbura State Prosecutor went to the hospital and presented
the complainant with an arrest warrant in her name, without giving her a copy, and informed
her of her arrest. The complainant was forced to leave the hospital – in a wheelchair – and
was taken to the Bujumbura State Prosecutor’s Office, where she was interrogated and
confined to a cell for hours, despite the fact that she had serious and visible wounds, before
being transferred to the Mpimba central prison. During the interrogation, the complainant did
not have access to a lawyer.4
2.7
While in prison, the complainant was forced to share a tiny bed with another inmate
in a room that housed 46 other women. The food was insufficient and of poor quality, which,
together with the overcrowding in the prison, was conducive to the spread of contagious
diseases and consequently caused serious health problems for the complainant.
2.8
The complainant remained in detention at the Mpimba prison until 12 June 2015,
when she was taken to an emergency room because of her serious health problems, thanks to
the intervention of the Association burundaise pour la protection des droits humains et des
personnes détenues and the International Committee of the Red Cross.5 The complainant was
hospitalized until 24 June 2015, in part to set up a treatment for diabetes, which she did not
have prior to her detention.
2.9
On 24 June 2015, the complainant left the hospital in order to flee from Burundi. On
9 July 2015, she was granted refugee status in Rwanda. On 15 February 2016, she was
sentenced by the Bujumbura tribunal de grande instance (court of major jurisdiction) to 3
years and 6 months of deprivation of liberty for resisting the police.
2.10 During the procedure brought against her,6 the complainant reported the torture she
had undergone, and it was also reported in a formal complaint lodged on 14 March 2014 with
the Bujumbura State Prosecutor’s Office on behalf of the complainant and the other members
of the Mouvement pour la solidarité et la démocratie who had been subjected to the same
treatment. Despite numerous representations, the authorities did not follow up on the reports
that were filed. No investigation was conducted by the Burundian authorities and the
complainant was never heard or even called about the acts of torture to which she was
subjected, even though they were widely known. In a press conference on 9 May 2014, the
lawyers who signed the complaint denounced the fact that two months after its submission,
the prosecutor had not yet started the investigation of the case and that the victims had been
forced to leave the hospital before they had fully recovered. 7 The case involving the
complainant has received much media attention both nationally 8 and internationally. 9
Moreover, although the perpetrators were expressly identified in the complaint, they have
never been punished by the State party.
2.11 Apart from the clear refusal of the authorities to establish responsibilities in this case,
the complainant also draws attention to the general climate of impunity in Burundi,
particularly with regard to acts of torture, which has been the subject of numerous reports by
United Nations bodies. 10 Furthermore, in its conclusions on the initial report of Burundi
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
GE.21-13853
The complainant did not see a lawyer until 25 April 2014, at a hearing during the proceedings against
her, more than a month and a half after her arrest.
According to a visit certificate dated 13 July 2015, the complainant was visited by delegates of the
International Committee of the Red Cross at the Mpimba prison on 3 April, 3 July, 15 July, 12
August, 6 October and 12 November 2014 and on 3 February 2015.
Specifically, at a closed hearing held on 25 April 2014. However, the judge did not grant her requests.
Philippe Ngendakumana, Affaire détenus MSD: une justice à deux vitesses (The case of the MSD
detainees: Double standards for justice), Iwacu, 12 May 2014, available in French at
http://www.iwacu-burundi.org/affaire-detenus-msd-une-justice-a-deux-vitesses/.
See, for example, Iwacu, 8 mars 2014: une manifestation qui a dégénéré (8 March 2014: A
demonstration gone wrong), 17 March 2014, available in French at
https://burundi24.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/8-mars-2014-une-manifestation-qui-a-degenere/.
See, for example, RFI, “Burundian opposition protest degenerates”, 9 March 2014, available at
www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20140309-burundi-manifestation-opposition-msd-degenere; and France 24,
“Violence threatens Burundi’s fragile balance”, 10 March 2014, available at
https://observers.france24.com/fr/20140310-violences-menacent-fragile-equilibre-burundi.
CAT/C/BDI/CO/1, para. 21; and CAT/C/BDI/CO/2/Add.1, para. 26. See also A/HRC/23/9, paras. 51,
86, 96, 97, 100 and 111.
3