
Former Burundi Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni has been incurred over tampering with national security, economic destabilisation, and abuse of power for enrichment, according to officials.
In a public conference hosted by governments’ spokespeople on Monday the 24th of April, 2023 in Cibitoke province, North-Western of Burundi, Agnès Bangiricenge, the spokesperson of Attorney general of the Republic of Burundi reported that the former prime minister is kept for three alleged charges.
Agnès reported that he [Alain Guillaume Bunyoni] is jailed in intelligence service custody, alleged of sparking instability in the country, infringing economic crisis, as well as misusing his power for personal interests after a couple of days he was reported to have been arrested.
No further details have been revealed on Bunyoni’s role over the file charged against him.
She went on saying Alain Guillaume Bunyoni is held in intelligence service custody but she remained evasive on where exactly he is kept.
Burundi’s intelligence service is headquartered in Bujumbura, the economic capital with agencies countrywide.
So far, according to Bangiricenge, his family members are not allowed to visit him.
Later on Sunday, the Attorney General of the republic Sylvestre Nyandwi reported in a statement that Bunyoni is held by the police.
He, in addition, said that he released a warrant of arrest following indicted charges, thus, a joint descent was conducted by police and the national intelligence ordered by him.
They [three charges he is alleged] erupt after seven months he has been ejected from the office by the president of Burundi in September 2022 after rumours spanned social media platforms that he attempted to overthrow the president.
Burundi has for a few months been undergoing an unprecedented hefty economic crisis characterised by inflation, scarcity of foreign currency as well as fuel setbacks.
In his speeches across the country, Burundi’s president Evariste Ndayishimiye has occasionally pointed fingers at officials who hid their wealth to distort the national economy.
The chase after Bunyoni started a week ago where his two homes (one in Gasekebuye and Nkenga-Busoro in Bujumbura economic capital city) were subjected to a raid by police Saturday the 17th of April 2023 night.
Sylvestre Nyandwi said that Bunyoni was arrested in on the 21st of April 2023 at Nyamuzi in Mubone in Kabezi commune in Bujumbura.
“The Attorney General reports that the General Police Alain Guillaume Bunyoni is held by the police,” the statement reads apart.
“The evidence resulting from the raid along with additional elements on the committed crimes are being culled to be handed over to the General Attorney,” concluded the statement.
Later during the week on the 22nd of April, The National Human Right Commission, CNDH, tweeted that Bunyoni is safe and secure. He was neither tortured nor abused.
L’@CNIDH_Bdi a effectué, ce 22/4/2023, une visite pour s’entretenir avec le Général Alain Guillaume Bunyoni. Il se porte bien. Il n’a subi aucun acte de torture ou tout autre abus, depuis son arrestation. Sa famille en a été informée. Le processus suit son cours normal.
— CNIDH-Burundi (@CNIDH_Bdi) April 22, 2023
Translation of the twit : The Independent National Commission on Human Rights paid a visit to General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni on 22/4/2023. He is healthy. He has not been subjected to any torture or other abuse since his arrest. His family has been informed. The process is proceeding normally.
Observers, advocates, and political experts feared for his security as he might have been killed to silence him as he holds governmental secrets related to crimes committed, embezzlement, along with extra-judicial killings.
Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, 51, remained up to his detainment one of the powerful men in Burundi aptly named Mutama 2 after Mutama 1 referred to late Pierre Nkurunziza who died in 2020.
He served in the Ministry of Public Security and occupied a series of posts since 2005 when the CNDD-FDD Burundi’s ruling party won the democratic elections. He was dismissed as Prime Minister in September last year as Ndirakobuca Gervais the-then minister of home affairs and public security took over his office.