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BURUNDI
CASE N° BDI/26 - NEPHTALI NDIKUMANA
CASE N° BDI/36 - MATHIAS BASABOSE
CASE N° BDI/37 - LÉONARD NYANGOMA
CASE N° BDI/40 - FRÉDÉRIQUE GAHIGI
CASE N° BDI/42 - PASTEUR MPAWENAYO
CASE N° BDI/43 - JEAN MARIE NDUWABIKE
CASE N° BDI/45 - ALICE NZOMUKUNDA
CASE N° BDI/46 - ZAITUNI RADJABU

Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 185th session
(Geneva, 21 October 2009)

The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Ndikumana, Mr. Basabose, Mr. Nyangoma, Ms. Gahigi, Mr. Mpawenayo, Mr. Nduwabike, Ms. Nzomukunda and Mr. Radjabu, all either former or incumbent members of the Parliament of Burundi, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/185/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 184th session (April 2009),

Recalling that the former and incumbentparliamentarians concerned were the target of apparently coordinated grenade attacks perpetrated on 19 August 2007 and 6 March 2008, and that only in the case of the attack on Ms. Nzomukunda’s house have suspects been arrested, in particular the driver of the motorcycle from which the grenade was thrown by an element of Palipehutu Youth; in late March 2008, the police issued a communiqué stating that the investigation was progressing and that its conclusions would be made public in the coming days; according to information provided by the Speaker in October 2008, the investigation into the grenade attacks had passed the stage of the police investigation and was with the public prosecutor, who was preparing the submission of the case to court; however, in November 2008, the Attorney General informed the Director of the IPU’s Democracy Division that the initial investigations had been mishandled, having focused on the victims themselves as instigators of these attacks; this lead was soon abandoned, but having started off on the wrong premise, the case had become complicated, making it very difficult to identify the perpetrators of these attacks, for which reason he believed that the case would be dismissed; in April 2009, the Burundian delegation to the 120th IPU Assembly reported that the cases were not ready to be presented in court as the investigation had yet to be completed by the prosecutor’s office,

Recalling that legislative, presidential and municipal elections will be held in Burundi in the course of 2010,

  1. Deplores the fact that the authorities have not responded to its request for information regarding the stage reached in the investigation into the grenade attacks;

  2. Fears that the investigation may not be conducted with the necessary thoroughness and diligence and refers in this respect to the contradictory information provided by the authorities, more specifically that while in October 2008 they reported that the prosecutor was about to submit the case to the court, only one month later they stated that the investigation had yielded no results and that the case might even be dismissed;

  3. Recalls that impunity only serves to encourage the repetition of crime and thereby undermines the rule of law and human rights, and that Burundi, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is bound to uphold the fundamental rights enshrined therein, including the right to life and security, and is therefore obliged to dispense justice by identifying and punishing those guilty of any attack on a person’s life and security, and to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of threatened persons; considers that this is all the more important in the context of the forthcoming elections and election campaign, which may carry the risk of increased violence;

  4. Calls once again on the authorities, as is their duty, to conduct a diligent and thorough investigation into the attacks and to examine all possible leads, reiterates its wish to be informed of the current stage of the investigation and the results obtained, and considers that tangible results should at least be available in the case of Ms. Nzomukunda, as suspects were arrested in the case;

  5. Requests the Secretary General to inform the parliamentary authorities and the Attorney General of this resolution, inviting them to provide the requested information;

  6. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 122nd IPU Assembly (March-April 2010).
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