Considered number 2 of the CNDD-FDD regime in Burundi, the former Minister of Public Security and then Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni was sentenced on Friday December 8 to life in prison. Arrested eight months ago, he was prosecuted on seven counts, accused of having fomented a plan to assassinate President Evariste Ndayshimiye, and amassed considerable wealth.
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The verdict was delivered by the President of the Supreme Court in person. Emmanuel Gateretse has followed the requisitions of the prosecution : the public prosecutor had accused Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni of having paid “ a criminal enterprise to assassinate the head of state ” and of ” overthrow the constitutional regime “. Few details had leaked from behind closed doors, but the use of fetishes had been mentioned.
Added to these accusations were those of illegal enrichment and destabilization of the economy: the former Prime Minister allegedly kept sums of money at home “ colossal “, according to the prosecution, to the point of ” destabilize the exchange rate » of the Burundian franc. The Court ordered the confiscation of four houses and buildings, a plot of land and 14 vehicles belonging to him.
Five of his co-defendants received sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years in prison, compared to 30 required against them. The last, a driver, was acquitted. General Bunyoni was one of the leaders of the repression of the movement against the third term in 2015-2016. Upon the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza in 2020, he had become Prime Ministerbefore being removed from office in September 2022a few days after the current head of state Évariste Ndayishimiye denounced the desires of “ Rebellion “.