Alexis Sinduhije in Prison: Are we back to the old regimes?

BUJUMBURA (AFP) — A Burundi opposition leader was on Tuesday charged with contempt for the president, his lawyer said, following his November 3 arrest alongside 37 party members for holding an illegal meeting.

Dozens of policemen were deployed near the court where around 150 supporters gathered to protest against Alexis Sinduhije's arrest.

"My client is accused of contempt for the head of state on the basis of illegally seized documents because a search warrant was issued for his house and not for his party headquarters," said Sinduhije's lawyer Prosper Niyoyankana.

"This is a purely political matter. It has nothing to do with the law. Alexis Sinduhije, like other political prisoners in this country, is being punished by the government for their criticism" of the regime, Niyoyankana told reporters.

Sinduhije, a former journalist, has now been transferred from police custody to Bujumbura central prison.

Meanwhile, the 37 others arrested, fellow founding members of the Movement for Security and Democracy, had been freed since Saturday, a human rights activist said.

"Some were not even questioned and the police commander told me that he received orders from above to free them," said Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, the head of the Association for the defence of detained persons and human rights.

Sinduhije, 42, founded Radio Publique Africaine (African Public Radio) in 2001 in a bid to foster reconciliation between Tutsi and Hutu communities.

He became one of Burundi's most prominent journalists, before he launched the Movement for Security and Democracy in December 2007 and vowed to run for the presidency in 2010.

In April, he was picked by Time magazine in its annual selection of the world's 100 most influential people.

The European Union on Monday condemned his arrest and warned the central African country that such action violated the terms of the bloc's aid to Bujumbura.

Britain and the United States also criticised the arrests.

MSD just released a statment: Click on the text below to read it is in French.

En ce moment même, que chacun des membres du MSD se souvienne de sa devise (Ukuri, Guca bugufi, Kugira ubuntu), et c’est maintenant qu’il faut montrer cet idéal qui anime le MSD en opposant à la brutalité les valeurs d’humanité. Le MSD rappelle à ses membres que c’est dans l’épreuve que se forge le caractère des femmes et des hommes qui portent ces valeurs.
En effet, toutes les souffrances qu’endurent les membres du MSD ne visent qu’à les décourager dans cette phase de la procédure d’agrément qui traîne en longueur. Mais qu’ils se rassurent, le MSD ira de l’avant et son président retrouvera la liberté, en témoignent l’embarras policière et judiciaire qui s’est manifestée dans l’instruction du dossier qui s’est révélé vide : Mr Alexis Sinduhije a été arrêté pour avoir organisé une réunion illégale, il est emprisonné à Mpimba pour outrage à Chef de l’Etat. Cela vient de prouver encore une fois que le pouvoir en place a peur des idées du MSD.