* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

3 April 2001
AFR 16/025/2001
61/01

Amnesty International expressed concern today at the significant
increase in cases of torture and unlawful detention in Burundi.

"Since the Forces nationales de libération (FNL),
National Liberation Forces, attacked and occupied parts of the
capital, Bujumbura, in late February and early March, there has
been a noticeable escalation of torture by members of the
Burundian security forces. We are also investigating a number of
cases where people arrested have been taken to unknown places of
detention and may have been extrajudicially executed", the
organization said.

All detainees, including children, are vulnerable to
torture and ill-treatment in the early stages of detention by the
military or gendarmerie in Burundi. This risk is increased if
they are held incommunicado or accused of a political offence,
such as suspicion of participation or collaboration with an armed
opposition group.

"We are calling on Burundian President Pierre Buyoya and
other top civilian and security force authorities to intervene
immediately to prevent further torture, deaths in custody, and
"disappearances" and to release those against whom there is no
evidence to substantiate the accusation.

One of Bujumbura's most notorious places of detention is
a gendarmerie building which belongs to an elite unit known as
the Groupement d'intervention, Intervention Squad. Torture and
cases of "disappearance" or suspected extrajudicial execution are
routinely reported from this building, and people living nearby
report hearing screams at night. It is virtually impossible for
human rights groups, and even members of the civilian justice
system, such as the State Public Prosecutor, to gain access to
detainees held in the building.

"Most of the people whose cases we are monitoring at the
moment have been severely beaten with gun buts, metal rods or
sticks, on the legs, back, head and face. Some have been tied
for hours or days leaving gaping flesh wounds. Others have been
threatened with execution, or denied food and water," the human
rights organization said.

In all the recent cases documented by Amnesty
International since late February, detainees have been arrested
on suspicion of collaboration with the FNL and have been tortured
in military and gendarmerie custody. However, in most cases,
the basis of the accusations seems to be largely unfounded.

Matenga, a farmer was arrested by soldiers on 18 March as
he visited friends in Maramvya, Mutimbuzi commune near
Bujumbura. The soldiers accused him of collaboration with the
FNL apparently solely because he was not from Maramvya but from a
nearby village.

"This is a typical case, where the detainee is held
outside the framework of the law, and the protection it offers,
he is extremely vulnerable to torture or even extrajudicial
execution."

In similar cases, the detainee may eventually reappear.
However, the failure of soldiers and gendarmes to abide by lawful
arrest and detention procedures, sometimes refusing to
acknowledge a detention, aggravates the situation.

Amnesty International has also been raising concern
for a group of men who were arrested by soldiers on 16 March, in
the Maramvya area. They were briefly held and severely beaten at
a nearby military facility, before being transferred to a
military camp in Cibitoke province, northern Burundi. All but
one of them, Emile Masabo, have now been released. He is still at
risk of torture.

Background
According to Amnesty International's information, at least three
people are currently detained by the Groupement d'intervention.
They reportedly include a teenager, Léonidas Ntakahutimana, aged
16, who is reported to have been severely beaten. He is accused
of collaboration with the FNL. He had been forced by FNL
combatants, as they retreated to their bases, to carry property
they had looted during an attack on his home district of Kinama
in late 2000. When he returned to Kinama he was accused of
collaboration with the FNL. On 29 March, he was returned to the
Groupement d'intervention.

A man, known as "Safari" who was arrested in connection
with an attack, attributed to the FNL, on a civilian aircraft
landing at Bujumbura airport in November 2000, was reportedly
tortured to death at the Groupement d'intervention. The State
Public Prosecutor set up a government commission of inquiry to
investigate the attack on the aircraft and the people arrested,
two of whom were also tortured at the Groupement d'intervention.

On 22 March 2001, Amnesty International published a
report, Burundi: Between hope and fear (AI Index: AFR
16/007/2001) which looked at the human rights situation prior to
and since signature of the peace agreement in August 2000, and
challenges facing those intent on restoring respect for human
rights.

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