III. Events in Rutegama CommuneOn October 3, 2007, the Commissioner General of the Internal Security Police (Police de la Sécurité Interior, PSI) sent approximately 100 officers from the 3rd Rapid Mobile Intervention Group (Groupements mobiles dintervention rapide, GMIR to Muramvya province in central Burundi. Ordinarily based in the capital Bujumbura, the GMIR is a specialized reserve that is supposed to provide rapid response to emergencies across the country. At the time of the human rights abuses described in this report, GMIR groups operated under the authority of the PSI.2According to police, the deployment was a response to an alarmingly high incidence of crime, including the theft of livestock and crops, as well as to recruitment and propaganda by the opposition National Liberation Forces (Forces de liberation nationale, FNL), which in July 2007 withdrew from talks with the government on the implementation of a ceasefire agreed in September 2006.3 The GMIR were deployed in several communes, including Rutegama, where they set up a post in the Kaniga health center several kilometers from the town center. Throughout October, with the cooperation of a local PSI police chief, they engaged in a heavy-handed policing operation that involved numerous breaches of Burundian law and the violation of international human rights standards. According to residents interviewed by a Human Rights Watch researcher, the police behavior was brutal and inspired fear. According to one victim, Everyone in Rutegama is afraid. When people see the truck from Kaniga coming, they flee.4 An officer of the GMIR police told the Human Rights Watch researcher that the policing strategy was deliberately intended to intimidate local people.5 A Campaign of Raids and ArrestsStarting on October 8, GMIR officers under Commander Désiré Uwamahoro began carrying out searches and making arrests in Rutegama and neighboring communes. Although officers had appropriate warrants from the Muramvya prosecutor for most of these searches, they carried out many of them at night and without the presence of a judicial police officer, in violation of the Burundian code of criminal procedure.6 In addition, officers beat and otherwise ill-treated arrested persons, including businessmen, teachers, farmers, a demobilized combatant and a chef de colline, a local official responsible for governing a small administrative unit. Many of the victims told the Human Rights Watch researcher that police officers accused them of FNL membership, which is not a crime in Burundi,7while others said they were accused of illegally possessing arms.8
One of the first men arrested by the GMIR described how his family was awakened at about 2 a.m., when everyone was sleeping:
A police officer stationed at the Kaniga health center, along with several victims, told a Human Rights Watch researcher that detainees were designated for arrest arbitrarily by the local security police chief, Nestor Niyokuri, and by the Rutegama communal administrator, Josias Ndikumagenge.10 The GMIR unit took the detainees back to their post at the health center, a building consisting of one large room and several small rooms of about two by three meters each. As many as ten detainees were held in each of these small rooms.11Human Rights Watch identified 22 detainees, but according to one GMIR officer who was present, as many as 50 persons may have been detained at the health center throughout the course of the month.12 By detaining persons for periods of time ranging from several days to more than three weeks, GMIR officers violated Burundian law which requires officers from all branches of the Internal Security Police to deliver detainees immediately after their arrest to the Judicial Police (Police Judiciaire, PJ).13GMIR officers also held the detainees at the health center, not at an official place of detention.14There was a jail at Rutegama center, to which any suspects should have been transferred immediately after their arrest. GMIR officers interrogated the detainees, a further violation of Burundian law.15 Investigating crimes is a function of the Judicial Police, who question suspects and provide evidence to the prosecutor (Ministère Public).16 Many victims assumed a person taking notes during their interrogation was a judicial police officer (Officier de la Police Judiciaire, OPJ), but an officer present at Kaniga, as well as the commissioner general of the PSI who ordered the deployment, told the Human Rights Watch researcher that no judicial police officers were present.17 Interrogation, Torture and Ill-TreatmentDuring interrogations GMIR officers tortured, beat, and intimidated detainees to coerce them into giving information. All 11 former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that they had been beaten by police officers. Four said they were also subject to mock executions or death threats. When asked about the treatment of other detainees, one victim said, Everyone at Kaniga was beaten every time the police walked passed a detainee, they would hit them.18 According to one man, an officer whom he presumed to be a judicial police officer arrested him on October 8 and took him to the health center, where he was held overnight.
Another person arrested on October 13 recounted:
Two other victims showed a Human Rights Watch researcher scars on their backs and stomachs that they said had resulted from the beatings two weeks previously. Another man said that he had urinated blood for days after being beaten.21
Two men told the Human Rights Watch researcher that in addition to being beaten, they were also subjected to mock execution. One man said:
Paying for freedomSome persons who had been detained for periods ranging from hours to days were released if they were willing and able to pay bribes to police officers. As one recounted:
One former detainee reported that a police officer asked him for 20,000 Fbu.30 When he could provide only 14,000 Fbu, he was not released. The police officer told him he would be freed if he produced another 6,000 Fbu.Unable to do so, the victim was transferred to a Muramvya jail and detained there another three weeks in violation of Burundian law, which requires detainees to be charged and presented to a prosecutor within one week of having been arrested.31 At least three other detainees were also transferred to jails in Muramvya; one said that even though he had paid the bribe requested by GMIR officers, he was still transferred to a Muramvya jail and was freed only after paying a second bribe to a judicial police officer there.32 None of those arrested in October was charged with any criminal offence. All were released after periods of detentionsome after a few hours, most after a week or so, but a few after nearly a month. Police Brutality and Intimidation of Local ResidentsMeanwhile, residents, including a police officer, who complained about police conduct were themselves abused by the police. On October 25, for example, a judicial police officer spoke about the abuses at Kaniga during a workshop on police conduct that was organized by the Burundian human rights organization Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (Association pour la Protection des Droits Humains et des Personnes Detenus, APRODH.) Upon returning to Rutegama that evening, he was confronted by GMIR officers who beat him and detained him overnight at the health center.33 A woman who witnessed his arrest and challenged the police about their conduct, told the Human Rights Watch researcher that in response to her question she was beaten in Rutegama town center by the Rutegama chief of security police, Nestor Niyokuri. She later filed charges against him.34 Three other persons also told the Human Rights Watch researcher that GMIR officers and Nestor Niyokuri beat them in the town center on or about October 26, after they questioned police conduct or, in one case, approached police officers while they were beating another person.35 One victim recounted:
During the period when the GMIR officers were active in Rutegama, other locally-based security police officers also tried to intimidate residents. According to one resident, Provincial Internal Security Police Commissioner Viateur Muco came to my house and asked me why I was an FNL sympathizer Later, a neighbor told me that my name was on a list of people who were to be arrested. I wasnt arrested, but I am still afraid.37 Another resident said the same official warned him to stop doing things that the police did not like and asked me if I had information on the FNL. I said I didnt know anything abut them. He said If you try to join them, well arrest you immediately.38 As mentioned above, according to the ceasefire agreement signed between the Government of Burundi and the FNL in September 2006, being a member of the FNL is not a crime.39 2 The GMIR groups are known respectively as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd GMIR. Each one consists of approximately 300 police officers and is divided into several functional units. 3 Human Rights Watch interviews with police spokesperson Pierre Chanel Ntarabaganyi, Bujumbura, November 16, 2007; Commissioner General of the Internal Security Police Gabriel Nizigama, Bujumbura, November 19, 2007; and Commissioner General of the Judicial Police Deo Suzuguye, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007. 4 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 1, 2007. 5 Human Rights Watch interview with GMIR police officer, Bujumbura, November 21, 2007. 6 Loi No. 1/015 du 20 juillet 1999 portant réforme du code de procedure penale, art. 52 ; Loi No. 1/020 du 31 December 2004 portant creation, organization, missions, composition, et fonctionnement de la Police Nationale, art. 30. 7 Under the terms of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement Between the Government of Burundi and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, Dar es Salaam, September 7, 2006, membership in the FNL is not a crime. 8 The spokesperson of the Burundian police claimed that no one was detained for FNL membership but that some persons were detained for prohibited activities linked to membership. Because police maintained no register of the detainees and the charges on which they were held and because all detainees were eventually released without charge, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty the reason for arrest that was provided at the time. Human Rights Watch interviews with victims, Bujumbura, November 1 and November 20, 2007, and Rutegama, November 2, 2007, and police spokesperson Pierre Chanel Ntarabaganyi, Bujumbura, November 16, 2007. 9 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007. 10 Human Rights Watch interviews with victims, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007, and GMIR police officer, Bujumbura, November 21, 2007. 11 Human Rights Watch visit to Kaniga health center, October 23, 2007, and interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007. 12 Human Rights Watch interview with GMIR police officer, Bujumbura, November 21, 2007. 13 PSI officers are authorized to arrest suspects in only three instances: when they are caught « red-handed »; when they are pointed out by witnesses immediately following a crime; and on the basis of a warrant. Loi No. 1/020 du 31 December 2004 portant creation, organization, missions, composition, et fonctionnement de la Police Nationale, art. 21. 14 Burundian law does not explicitly define what constitutes a legal detention site. However, Burundian judicial and police authorities explained that the Kaniga site was unknown to judicial authorities and thus in violation of accepted standards of detention. Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Muramvya deputy prosecutor, March 22, 2008, and with a judicial police officer, March 24, 2008. 15 Human Rights Watch interview with police spokesperson Pierre Chanel Ntarabaganyi, Bujumbura, November 16, 2007. 16 Loi No. 1/020 du 31 December 2004 portant creation, organization, missions, composition, et fonctionnement de la Police Nationale, art. 27. 17 Human Rights Watch interview with Commissioner General of the Internal Security Police Gabriel Nizigama, Bujumbura, November 19, 2007, and GMIR police officer, Bujumbura, November 21, 2007. 18 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 1, 2007. 19 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Rutegama, November 2, 2007. 20 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 1, 2007. 21 Human Rights Watch interviews with victims, Bujumbura, November 1, 2007, and Rutegama, November 2, 2007. 22 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007. 23 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Rutegama, November 2, 2007. 24 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Muramvya, November 2, 2007. 25 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, ratified by Burundi on May 9, 1990. 26 African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted June 27, 1981, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, entered into force October 21, 1986, ratified by Burundi on July 28, 1989. 27 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture), adopted December 10, 1984, G.A. Res. 39/46, annex, 39, U.N. Doc. A/39/51, entered into force June 26, 1987, ratified by Burundi on February 18, 1993, art. 1 and 2. 28 Approximately $110. 1000 Burundian francs, Fbu, is equivalent to just under one US dollar. 29 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 20, 2007. 30 Approximately $18. 31 Human Rights Watch interviews with victim, Muramvya PSI jail, November 2, 2007, and Bujumbura, November 20, 2007; Loi No. 1/015 du 20 juillet 1999 portant réforme du code de procedure penale, art. 60-65. 32 Human Rights Watch interviews with victim, Rutegama, November 2, 2007. 33 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with victim, October 29, 2007. 34 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Bujumbura, November 1, 2007. 35 Human Rights Watch interviews with victims, Rutegama, November 2, 2007. 36 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Rutegama, November 7, 2007. 37 Human Rights Watch telephone interview, October 23, 2007. 38 Human Rights Watch/APRODH interview, Muramvya, October 23, 2007. 39 Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement Between the Government of Burundi and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, Dar es Salaam, September 7, 2006. |