Burundi court upholds life sentence for former premier

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Burundi’s Supreme Court decided Thursday to uphold the life sentence against former Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni.

Bunyoni was sentenced last December to life in prison on charges that included attempting to overthrow the government and threatening the life of the president.

But he appealed the verdict in May and asked the court to acquit him after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Chief Justice Emmanuel Gateretse read the upheld verdict of the first court at a prison in the political capital, Gitega, where Bunyoni is being held, according to his lawyer.

“The court ruled that all the assets belonging to Bunyoni that were not declared by June 3, 2021 be immediately confiscated. It also ordered the former premier to pay a fine of 22.7 billion Burundi francs ($7.8 million),” the lawyer told reporters.

Bunyoni was accused of threatening the life of President Evariste Ndayishimiye and undermining national security as well as the illegal possession of weapons.

The court also upheld a 15-year prison term for three of Bunyoni’s co-defendants, who include an intelligence official and a police officer.

President Ndayishimiye sacked Bunyoni in September 2022 following allegations of a possible coup against him.

Bunyoni, a former police chief, who had long been a senior figure in the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party, was arrested in April last year.