The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to its long-standing examination of the cases of Burundian parliamentarians that concern:

• The murders of six members of the National Assembly between 1994 and 1999, namely Mr. Sylvestre Mfayokurera (September 1994), Mr. Innocent Ndikumana (January 1996), Mr. Gérard Gahungu (July 1996), Mr. Paul Sirahenda (September 1997), Mr. Gabriel Gisabwamana (January 2000) and Ms. Liliane Ntamutumba (July 1996), and two assassination attempts (September 1994 and December 1995) targeting Mr. Norbert Ndihokubwayo, all of which have remained unpunished to date;

• The grenade attacks of 19 August 2007 and 6 March 2008 on eight members of the previous legislature (Mr. Nephtali Ndikumana, Mr. Pasteur Mpawenayo, Mr. Jean-Marie Nduwabike, Ms. Frédérique Gahigi, Mr. Mathias Basabose, Mr. Léonard Nyangoma, Ms. Zaituni Radjabu and Ms. Alice Nzomukunda) belonging to a dissident wing of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy - Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), which caused material damage but did not injure anyone and which have likewise gone unpunished;

• Criminal proceedings brought against Mr. Hussein Radjabu, Mr. Pasteur Mpawenayo, Mr. Gérard Nkurunziza and Mr. Théophile Minyurano, all belonging to the dissident wing of the CNDD-FDD led by Mr. Radjabu, who was ousted on 7 February 2007 from the CNDD-FDD party leadership; all four lost their seats in parliament following the 5 June 2007 judgment of the Constitutional Court declaring them to be sitting unconstitutionally; Mr. Radjabu is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence and Mr. Mpawenayo and Mr. Nkurunziza are in detention, chiefly on security-related charges; Mr. Minyurano is at liberty and the subject of judicial proceedings for having insulted a magistrate over a private rental dispute,

Also having before it a letter of 13 January 2012 containing observations on the mission report from the Speaker of the National Assembly, in which he expresses his disagreement with some of the report’s conclusions, stressing in this respect that "any conclusion in this report not based on actual examination of a court case file could be brought into question and considered hypothetical, baseless, partial or incomplete"; the Speaker also states that the fact that the parliamentary working group entrusted with monitoring cases of alleged violations of the human rights of parliamentarians was not able to function properly for some time and that the culprits of the two grenade attacks have not been found and punished should not necessarily be seen as reflecting a lack of willingness on the part of the authorities,

                   Taking into account the following information provided by the Burundian delegation at the hearing held during the 126th IPU Assembly (April 2012):

• The parliamentary working group continues to follow closely all the cases which are being examined by the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians; it has met with the authorities and tried to meet with the former parliamentarians concerned; those in detention were very appreciative of its interest and requested the working group to see them again; however, the victims of the grenade attacks refused to meet the working group because they did not believe it was useful;

• In July 2009 a tripartite committee (composed of representatives of the Government, the United Nations and civil society) began grass-roots consultations on outstanding questions regarding the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; its report was officially presented to the President of Burundi in November 2010 and contains a draft legislative proposal and a timetable for the Commission’s establishment; the authorities consider that the Commission is an important, but very delicate, mechanism and believes that it is crucial for the population to be fully supportive of it and to understand how it functions and its objectives; they therefore decided to hold further grass-roots consultations, thus allowing ordinary citizens to acquaint themselves with the current proposal and to express themselves as to whether or not it took account of their needs and concerns; the government will subsequently submit a draft proposal to the National Assembly, probably before the end of April 2012;

• The investigations into the two grenade attacks have not been closed and have not yet produced a final result; the parliamentary working group has been in contact with the authorities, in particular the prosecutor, and believes that it will take time to make progress in these cases, as with other outstanding investigations into grenade attacks in which ordinary citizens are the victims; as regards the second attack, for which several suspects had been detained but subsequently released, the working group is trying to re-activate the case before the Appeals Court of Bujumbura;

• court has reserved judgement in the case of Mr. Mpawenayo; a court hearing in the case of Mr. Nkurunziza is scheduled to take place on 11 April 2012,

1. Thanks the authorities for hosting and cooperating with the mission, enabling it to comply fully with its terms of reference; takes note with great interest of the observations by the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Burundian delegation to the 126th IPU Assembly;

2. Also thanks the mission for its work and endorses its overall conclusions;

3. Appreciates the authorities’ stated commitment to help bring about a satisfactory settlement of each of the pending cases; is pleased to hear of the extensive action taken by the parliamentary working group to encourage progress and monitor the state of affairs in each of them; believes that its vigilance is particularly important with regard to those cases that will not fall within the remit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission;

4. Regrets that, for the very reason invoked by the Speaker, and despite the undertaking of the Attorney General, the mission did not have access to the case files of the former parliamentarians in detention who have yet to be tried, namely Mr. Mpawenayo, Mr. Nkurunziza and Mr. Nshirimana, or receive copies of the indictments against them; further regrets that, since the mission took place, these documents have still not been made available and sincerely hopes that the authorities will do so forthwith;

5. Notes the mission’s concerns regarding the recourse to pre-trial detention and the slowness of the proceedings against those former parliamentarians; trusts that a judgement is imminent in the case of Mr. Mpawenayo and wishes to receive a copy thereof as soon as it becomes available; is hopeful that the authorities will give serious consideration to the possibility of granting provisional release to Mr. Nkurunziza and Mr. Nshirimana and will do everything in their power to accelerate the proceedings or otherwise dismiss them without delay; wishes to receive their observations on these points;

6. Understands that the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a complex matter; is surprised, however, given that the tripartite committee submitted its detailed report more than a year ago and that extensive grass-roots consultations have already been held, that the authorities have not yet been able to set up the Commission; trusts, as the Burundian delegation indicated, that within weeks the National Assembly will be in a position to discuss and, hopefully soon thereafter, adopt the framework and legal provisions needed for the Commission to discharge its mandate effectively;

7. Concurs with the Speaker that the absence of results in an investigation do not necessarily reflect lack of will on the part of the authorities; recalls, however, that, with regard to the grenade attacks, the authorities for a long time followed a line of enquiry built on the assumption that the victims themselves had organized those attacks, an assumption that is difficult to justify as the starting point for any serious investigation; calls on the authorities to do everything possible, as is their duty, to ensure that the presumed culprits are identified and brought to justice; strongly believes that, with regard to the attack for which suspects were arrested and evidence was available, it should be possible to make at least some progress in the investigation; notes with interest the intention of the parliamentary group to help re‑activate this file and wishes to be kept informed of the results of its efforts;

8. Notes the contradictory views of the authorities and Mr. Minyurano regarding the proceedings brought against him for having allegedly insulted a magistrate over a rental dispute; decides to end its consideration thereof in the hope that it will be promptly settled;

9. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities and to the sources;

10. Requests the Committee to continue examining these cases and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 126th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 910 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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