BUJUMBURA February 24th (ABP) – The Chairman of the CNIDH, Dr Sixte Vigny Nimuraba, presented on Wednesday February 22, 2023, before the National Assembly, at the Kigobe hemicycle, the annual report of activities for the 2022 financial year, a check by ABP revealed.
Mr. Nimuraba told the MPs that out of 428 referrals and self-referrals processed, 297 were declared admissible, or 69.3% against 113 inadmissible, or 30.6%. He also reported that 326 referrals have been closed and 102 are being processed.
In 2022, he pointed out, 477 visits were made to the various prisons, and that out of a total of 5,618 people, 1,113 people were released thanks to the CNIDH’s advocacy with the competent authorities during those visits. Mr. Nimuraba thus specified that most of those who were released were being prosecuted for offenses or were in illegal custody.
Indeed, the Chair of the CNIDH pointed out various challenges that have been observed in the prisons, in particular the challenges related to the detention of children who have not yet reached the age of criminal maturity, the custody of women pregnant or nursing babies, inhuman or degrading torture or ill-treatment.
There is also the non-separation of minors from adults, some jails which are very small compared to the people who are detained there, some prisons which experience a large prison overcrowding due to the fact that inmates spend several days in communal jails before their transfer to the prisons of the provincial police stations, detainees who spend more than a day without leaving the jail to get some fresh air, the cases of prisoners who suffer from mental illness without access to appropriate health care, prisoners in need of lawyers due to the lack of financial means as well as the state and accessibility of toilets which leave something to be desired in most jails.
Mr. Nimuraba also pointed out that, during those visits to the prisons, they observed improvements, particularly with regard to respect for the law, respect for the fundamental rights guaranteed to all human beings, such as the right to human dignity and to physical integrity.
The CNIDH also commends the gradual eradication of torture and ill-treatment in the jails because, Nimuraba said, of the two cases of ill-treatment noted, criminal cases have been opened by the prosecutors concerned. In terms of access to health care, nurses exist in prisons.