Burundi's campaign Against Torture

Freed after 740 days of detention while under provisional release granted

The court of Cibitoke is located in the North-West of Burundi, about 50 kilometers from the capital city Bujumbura. No prison is located in Cibitoke, so prisoners from this area are detained in the Central Prison of Mpimba located in Bujumbura. To hear criminal matters, this court has to make “itinerants,” where judges and prosecutors from Cibitoke court move to Bujumbura. They then hold hearings in the courtroom of one of Bujumbura tribunals. The provisional relocations are supported by the … Continue Reading →

IBJ hopes for new age of juvenile justice in Burundi

While celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and  Universal Children’s Day (November 20th), IBJ organized a roundtable event around the theme “special procedures of juvenile justice enforcement in Burundi” on Friday, November 23rd, 2012. 20 people participated, including presidents of courts, prosecutors of the republic, judges, secretaries, and court clerks. All journeyed from the city of Bujumbura and the provinces of Bujumbura, Bururi, and Muramvya, the three main provinces in Burundi from which … Continue Reading →

Satisfactory IBJ Legal Assistance at Muramyva court: Views of beneficiaries and partners

On Thursday, October 4th, 2012, a team from IBJ went to Muramvya with a purpose of evaluating the work of IBJ lawyers in the area. They were given the chance to assess what was needed to increase the impact of IBJ’s activities there. This was done through interviewing the recipients of IBJ legal assistance who had recently been acquitted. A journalist from Radio Isanganiro, one of the two broadcasting stations that hosted IBJ’s “Know your Rights” broadcasts, helped by recording … Continue Reading →

IBJ successful legal assistance at MURAMVYA

Muramvya is one of seventeen provinces of Burundi, located about 48 km from Bujumbura, the capital city. One of the eleven prisons in Burundi, with a capacity of 100 prisoners, is located within this province in a rural area. A total of 471 prisoners were there as of September 30th, 2012, four times over capacity level. There is one small cell within this prison reserved for children. A prosecution court operates there mainly in criminal or civil matters. This province … Continue Reading →

IBJ’s two months evaluation of reduction in Burundi prisons population after the enactment of presidential pardon decrees to mitigate bad living conditions due to prison overcrowding

During the Golden jubilee of the Independence of Burundi celebrations, the problem of Burundi prisons overcrowding has been rethought. Certainly, prison overcrowding is one of the forms of ill-treatment referred to in all the texts against torture. Not only there was a strong necessity to reduce number of inmates to try to be in conformity with acceptable conditions defined in international norms on prisons, but also, in this period of national festivities, common practice is to give pardon to some … Continue Reading →

One morning at the court in Bujumbura

At ten o’clock, IBJ Legal Fellow Janvier Ncamatwi arrives at the courthouse in Bujumbura, Burundi. Though he is there on schedule, he still has to wait for his clients to arrive, because the prisons lack the vehicles to reliably transport accused detainees to court. Janvier is expecting to handle ten cases this morning. There is a boy accused of stealing while working as a domestic servant; the lawyer suspects that there may be a dispute regarding the terms of employment … Continue Reading →

IBJ give citizens in Burundi chance to know their rights through the radio

An IBJ Burundi initiated radio program has been set on air. It is funded by Matrix Chambers and created in partnership with Bonesha FM and Isanganiro. These are private and independent radio channels aiming at promoting reconciliation and committed to improve Burundi’s justice system. They have earlier covered IBJ’s roundtable discussions in the country’s provinces with different stakeholders in the criminal justice system. The IBJ program was first broadcast on December 2nd and will be held every Friday for eleven … Continue Reading →

A pressing need – IBJ bring about rights awareness among prisoners in eastern Burundi

In the Burundian law it is stated: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. Unfortunately, complying with this is not reality in the prisons in the different parts of the country. When an IBJ volunteer team visited the prison of Ruyigi it became evident that most of prisoners surveyed do not know that they have the right not to be subjected to violations and they do not know to whom to turn to … Continue Reading →

IBJ fostering understanding of the legal guarantees of the accused

On the 26th of October, a number of key criminal justice stakeholders such as lawyers, judges and police officers participated in an IBJ roundtable arranged in Ruyigi, in the east of Burundi. Representatives of civil society, journalists, and institutional directors were also present. All had gathered to discuss and take part in lectures around the theme of “the effectiveness of legal guarantees for persons accused of crime”. The topic of legal guarantees for detained persons is highly relevant in Burundi. … Continue Reading →

Selene showing a rights awareness poster prepared and distributed by IBJ's team in Bujumbura

His words against mine, with nothing more, were enough to send me to prison

In Burundi, women who’ve been accused of crime can be forced to endure horrific conditions of incarceration, even without any charges proved. Due to persistent cultural norms, women can often be at an even greater disadvantage than their male counterparts when trying to fight the charges against them. Their helplessness, and the hopelessness of their situation, is only further exacerbated by their lack of access to legal representation. Without lawyers advocating on their behalves, their voices are left unheard or ignored.  This … Continue Reading →