Burundi sets up committee to probe 'extrajudicial executions'

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Burundi on Tuesday announced the setting up of a committee to investigate alleged cases of extra-judicial executions in the country.

Public prosecutor,Valentin Bagorikunda, announced that a committe of six magistrates of the Public prosecutor's office would investigate allegations made over the past few months by national and international human rights organizations.

The committe under the chairmanship of Supreme Court justice Manirakiza Adolphe is expected to submit its report in two months.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), a US worldwide human rights organization and other reports of the Burundian Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH) would be explored by the committee.

Human Rights Watch's allegations were made in a report released on 2 May 2012 entitled, "You will not be at peace in your life time:The escalation of violence in Burundi."

Government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba immediately denounced the report as a move by the international NGO aimed at "tarnishing the image of Burundi through its agents on the spot, namely opposition political parties, some civil society organizations and local media".

He said these groups were "the real drafters of the reports on which  Human Rights Watch only signed as a cover".

APRODH president, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, declared on Tuesday at a news conference that the findings of the previous committee of enquiry had to be made public first. The said committee was set up last year on the same issue of extrajudicial executions in Burundi.
-0- PANA FB/TBM/PAP/MA 12June2012