RFI and AFP file court complaint for torture of their Burundi correspondent
Faced with a lack of any action following an attack on their Burundi correspondent Esdras Ndikumana on August 2 as he carried out his wok, RFI and AFP have filed a complaint for torture against persons unknown at the supreme court in Bujumbura.
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The two French news organisations had immediately condemned the attack in a press statement and in a letter sent to the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The president issued a statement 11 days later condemning “the unacceptable behaviour in a country with the rule of law” towards Esdras Ndikumana by agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR).
He also said that he had asked the “SNR administrator general to urgently establish the circumstances of these acts, which belong to another era, so that those responsible are prosecuted and punished according to the law”.
Nothing happened following this statement, so RFI and AFP wrote again to President Nkurunziza on September 22 but did not receive a reply. This silence led AFP and RFI to go to court in support of their correspondent. A complaint was submitted yesterday.
RFI and AFP regard the prompt completion of the investigation as an absolute condition for the re-establishment of confidence in the respect of rule of law and freedom of expression in Burundi. Only the prosecution and sentencing of the perpetrators will provide Esdras Ndikumana, who is still undergoing treatment abroad two months after the assault, with the minimum guarantees that he can return to his country to work without fearing for his physical safety.
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