Former Burundi premier gets life sentence for attempting to overthrow government

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Burundi’s Supreme Court sentenced former Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni to life in prison on Friday on charges that included attempting to overthrow the government and threatening the life of the president.

Chief Justice Emmanuel Gateretse read the verdict at a prison in the capital Gitega, where he is being detained.

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

The court ordered authorities to seize Bunyoni’s property, including four houses as well as 14 vehicles.

It handed 15-year jail terms to three of Bunyoni’s co-defendants, who include an intelligence official and a police officer.

Two other defendants each received three-year jail terms while one defendant, a driver, was acquitted.

The prosecution had asked the court to hand Bunyoni’s co-defendants 30-year prison terms during the trial, which opened about three months ago.

Bunyoni pleaded not guilty to all the charges during the trial, saying there was no implicating evidence in the allegations against him.

President Ndayishimiye sacked Bunyoni in September last year 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 this year.