Burundi court slaps life terms on 21 ‘coup plotters’
Former Burundian defence minister Cyrille Ndayirukiye is among four ex-generals sentenced to life in prison for a failed coup (AFP Photo/)<br />
Burundi’s Supreme Court on Monday slapped life sentences on 21 army officers involved in a supposed coup plot in May last year.
The court had in January given 30-year jail terms to nine officers and sentenced eight other soldiers to five years while acquitting seven others.
But prosecutors appealed the initial sentence. The decision is however not binding as it can be appealed once more.
“Twenty-one officers including the main accused like General Cyrille Ndayirukiye were sentenced to life,” a judicial source said, speaking in the central city of Gitega.
The source said two senior army officers initially acquitted were also given life terms.
Prosecutors had said in January that they wanted all jailed for life and the seven acquitted to face a re-trial.
Burundi has been in crisis since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a controversial third term, sparking street protests, the failed coup, regular killings and smouldering violence.
Hundreds have been killed and a quarter of a million people have fled Burundi since.
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1 Comments
Nkurunziza would not break the rule of political succession and expect it to go down well with the Burundians. If you do not want a child to cry, do not beat him. I have surveyed the history of Africa, beginning from the slave trade experience through the colonial period to the time of decolonisation, I can only ask, “what is wrong with the black man?” The black man fought against himself, captured and sold millions of its young generation to Europe and America. Since after colonialism, he has continued to feed on his people merely to hold on to power and grow rich sadistically. Though there is also the aggression from without, the aggression from within is the bane of Africa’s woe today.
We will review and take appropriate action.