The president of a small opposition party in Burundi, CODEBU, arrested Tuesday after his party criticized the government, announced to AFP on Sunday that he had been released on “bail”.
The president of the Council for Democracy and Sustainable Development in Burundi (CODEBU), Kefa Nibizi, was imprisoned in Mpimba central prison, in Bujumbura, accused of “endangering the internal security of the State”. Mr. Nibizi told AFP that he was called to the prison director’s office around midday on Saturday.
“An agent told me that the prosecutor had signed a provisional release order. (…) I was then allowed to go out straight away,” he added. “The investigation of my case continues since I have not been questioned on the merits until now,” he said, denouncing “a violation of (his) rights as a citizen and as a opponent”.
On October 13, CODEBU posted on X (formerly Twitter) a message critical of the government, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of the assassination of the hero of independence, Prince Louis Rwagasore.
“At this time when Burundi is languishing in unprecedented poverty due to failing leadership, the CODEBU party invites the population not to give in to resignation and to take the example of Prince Louis Rwagasore, to rectify the situation which is only growing worse,” he wrote.
The arrest of Mr. Nibizi comes in the context of the trial of the former all-powerful Prime Minister, Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, arrested in April and accused of “undermining the internal security of the State”. He is also accused of illegal possession of weapons and insulting the president.
During a recent hearing on a request for release, prosecutors also mentioned — without further details — the charge of “attempted assassination of the head of state”, which has never been made public until now.
Mr. Bunyoni, Prime Minister since June 2020, was dismissed from office in September 2022, a few days after President Evariste Ndayishimiye denounced attempts at a “coup d’état”.
If the international community has welcomed a certain openness since Mr. Ndayishimiye came to power in June 2020, after the sudden death of his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, a UN commission of inquiry affirmed in September 2021 that the situation of human rights remained “disastrous” in Burundi.
