In Burundi, international and local human rights organizations condemned the arrest and imprisonment, described as arbitrary, by a former opposition representative, Fabien Banciryanino, on 2 October.
He was arrested without a warrant and then jailed in the Mpimba jail in Bujumbura a week ago, officially for “riots, slanderous condemnations and attacks on the state’s internal and external security”. However, according to one of his lawyers and a letter sent by the interested party to CNIDH, the independent national commission for human rights in Burundi, which reached the RFI, he was questioned about comments made during a plenary session of the National Assembly. in February 2020.
Fabien Banciryanino was one of the few critical voices of power under the last legislature. In this memorable session in February 2020, the National Assembly was to adopt a bill claiming the then President, Pierre Nkurunziza, under the title “Supreme Guide of Patriotism”.
On that day, Fabien Banciryanino was the only Member of Parliament to speak out publicly against this decision. He invokes for this “the serious crimes committed through President Pierre Nkurunziza’s 15 years of power”, now dead. The General Assembly at that time then qualifies the elected official as “ruthless”.
The former deputy no longer felt safe since the end of his term two months ago. Ten days after his arrest, the League for Human Rights condemns Iteka for a serious violation of the Constitution. “The arrest of Fabien Banciryanino is a serious violation of the law, especially as the Burundian Constitution, in its Article 155, stipulates that no parliamentarian can be prosecuted for the comments he has made or a choice he has made. operated in the exercise of his mandate, ”Anschaire Nikoyagize, President of Iteka, explained to Esdras Ndikumanafrom the Africa service.
This is, if the facts are proven, a very worrying signal, notes the organization Human Rights Watch. Lewis Mudge is in charge of Central Africa. “It is a message: we must not dare to condemn the actions committed by the government.” But it also means that the current president of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye“decided not to turn the page,” Lewis Mudge continues, “he continues with the same modes of repression observed, documented at the time of Pierre Nkurunziza, and that is a worrying sign.”
No Burundian official has yet agreed to comment on the arrest of the former opposition representative.
