{"id":26893,"date":"2016-04-15T06:36:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T04:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/26893-burundi-government-investigations-ignore-state-abuses.html"},"modified":"2016-04-15T06:36:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T04:36:19","slug":"burundi-government-investigations-ignore-state-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/26893-burundi-government-investigations-ignore-state-abuses.html","title":{"rendered":"Burundi: Government Investigations Ignore State Abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent International Inquiry Needed<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The findings of a Burundian<\/a>\u00a0commission of inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces on December 11, 2015, in the capital, Bujumbura, are misleading and biased, Human Rights Watch said today. This is one of several official inquiries that have failed to properly investigate security force abuses or hold those responsible to account.<\/p>\n

The inquiry focused on reports of abuses during the most deadly operation by the Burundian security forces since the country\u2019s crisis began in April. Human Rights Watch found that police and military shot dead<\/a>\u00a0scores of people in Nyakabiga and Musaga neighborhoods, apparently in retaliation for opposition attacks on four military installations, and for heavy shooting at security forces by gunmen in these neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the latest in a series of commissions of inquiry in Burundi that has ignored widespread abuses by the security forces,\u201d said Daniel Bekele<\/a>, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThese inquiries have covered up state abuses and have not led to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prosecutor General, Valentin Bagorikunda, set up an inquiry into the December 11 events on December 17, 2015. Summarizing the inquiry\u2019s main conclusions<\/a>\u00a0on March 10, 2016, he did not mention killings or abuses of Bujumbura residents by the security forces. He claimed that those killed on December 11 were armed \u201ccombatants\u201d wearing police or military uniforms.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, there have been at least seven commissions of inquiry into allegations of killings and other abuses. Most of them have denied or downplayed serious abuses by state agents.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch documented the killings of December 11 in detail and found no indications that the victims had participated in the attacks on the military installations. Some victims were found lying side by side, face down, and appeared to have been shot in the back or the head. Others survived with serious injuries. The security forces also carried out large-scale arbitrary arrests in both neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

In March, two United Nations special rapporteurs and one from the African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights visited Burundi to investigate human rights abuses at the request of the UN Human Rights Council. They plan to return in June and send a small team of human rights monitors to be based in the country.<\/p>\n

Presenting their interim report to the Human Rights Council on March 22, Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said: \u201cThe overt violence of last year seems to have subsided. At the same time covert violence, for example, in the form of disappearances, seems to have increased\u2026 There are some in [the Burundian] government who seem to be open to change. Others, however, are in denial anything is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the Burundian justice system\u2019s inability or unwillingness to conduct credible and thorough investigations, an independent, international commission of inquiry is needed to establish the truth about the grave abuses in Burundi in the past year and support the efforts of the special rapporteurs, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

An international commission with expertise in criminal and forensic investigations would conduct in-depth inquiries with a view to establishing individual responsibility for the most serious crimes. It would probe deeper into these crimes, complementing the work of UN and African Union human rights observers in Burundi as well as the Human Rights Council\u2019s initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to the minister\u2019s statement, impunity has been at the heart of Burundi\u2019s political system for years and is one of the principal causes of the current human rights crisis,\u201d Bekele said.<\/p>\n

Serious new abuses were reported throughout March and early April. Scores of people have been arrested and others taken away to unknown destinations by the police or intelligence services. Ruling party officials, police, and members of the ruling party youth league known as Imbonerakure arrested at least 16 members of the opposition party National Liberation Forces (FNL) at a bar in Kirundo province on March 12. The police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, claimed they were conducting a political meeting without authorization.<\/p>\n

Armed opposition groups have also been responsible for abuses. Unidentified men killed two ruling party officials in Bururi and Makamba provinces on March 15.<\/p>\n

Since early 2016, the intelligence services have intensified surveillance of human rights activists, journalists, and other perceived critics, making it even more difficult to document and expose abuses and putting the few activists who remain at even greater risk.<\/p>\n

Tensions were heightened on March 22, after an unidentified gunman shot dead Lt. Col. Darius Ikurakure, a military commander reportedly involved in many abuses, at the army headquarters in Bujumbura. Later that day, residents of Bujumbura reported that security forces arrested several people. That night, another military officer, Major Didier Muhimpundu, was killed in Bujumbura. An opposition group, the Republican Forces of Burundi (Forces r\u00e9publicaines du Burundi, FOREBU), later claimed responsibility for\u00a0Ikurakure\u2019s death. \u201cThe government\u2019s claims that Burundi is calm and that security is improving aren\u2019t true,\u201d Bekele said. \u201cThe recent killing of the military officials has heightened tensions, and many people are being arrested or simply go missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article is published by Human Rights Watch\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Burundi, please visit:\u00a0http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/burundi<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2016\/04\/13\/burundi-government-investigations-ignore-state-abuses <\/a><\/p>\n

For Immediate Release ***To view video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3Y-iFkJ0cwY<\/a><\/p>\n

***For an interview with Carina Tertsakian, senior researcher in the Africa division, please visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2016\/04\/13\/interview-killings-abductions-and-torture-spread-fear-burundi<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Independent International Inquiry Needed The findings of a Burundian\u00a0commission of inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces on December 11, 2015, in the capital, Bujumbura, are misleading and biased, Human Rights Watch said today. This is one of several official inquiries that have failed to properly investigate security force abuses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2153],"class_list":["post-26893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","ji_location-burundi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBurundi: Government Investigations Ignore State Abuses - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/26893-burundi-government-investigations-ignore-state-abuses.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Burundi: Government Investigations Ignore State Abuses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Independent International Inquiry Needed The findings of a Burundian\u00a0commission of inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces on December 11, 2015, in the capital, Bujumbura, are misleading and biased, Human Rights Watch said today. 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