NGOZI October 26th (ABP) – During a meeting held Monday, October 23, 2023, for the various heads of services working in Ngozi province, the new governor, Désiré Minani, noted a crumbling of confidence litigants towards certain justice providers. In addition to corruption, bribes and nepotism, there are long-term deliberations opening the way to speculation of all tendencies, the non-execution of definitively rendered judgments, the files of litigants which volatilize and so on.
The worst being long-term prisoners who have no files. Governor Minani mentioned the case of 107 inmates of the Ngozi Central Men’s Prison who have a total period of one year to six years, without ever having appeared before a judge.
Faced with those cases, he was uncompromising and gave the courts one week to allow those detainees to be heard by the judges. From now on, he said, trials which do not yet require witnesses must be immediately closed by a decision from the headquarters while awaiting the drafting of the motivation which can take a little time.
Governor Minani also demanded the establishment and posting of lists of judgments definitively pronounced and their implementation within a reasonable time frame.
He also urged the Public Prosecutor’s Office to unclog detention centers for minor crimes. For example, the 7 inmates of the Ngozi central prison for men who remain incarcerated for over 70 years. The latter no longer constitute a public danger and can be released, according to Governor Minani.
The Ngozi central men’s prison recorded on Monday a number of 1,693 inmates for a capacity of 400 prisoners, i.e., an occupancy rate of 400%.