World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

WORLD REPORT 2011SNR officials who have been cited by witnesses. They have also presented evidencesuggesting that some witnesses have disappeared or have been killed.Prosecutors lost the witnesses’ confidence by sharing information on witnesseswith the SNR.Transitional Justice and Criminal JusticeA committee representing the government, the UN, and civil society completed aseries of “national consultations” on establishing a Truth and ReconciliationCommission and a Special Tribunal to address past war crimes. The committeepresented President Nkurunziza with a report in April, but it still is not public atthis writing, preventing progress on establishing the proposed mechanisms.The Burundian justice system was plagued by backlogs in 2010. Sixty-five percentof prisoners were in pretrial detention. A September court decision upholding thepretrial detention of journalist Kavumbagu held that pretrial detention is alwaysthe best means to maintain a suspect “at the disposition of the justice system,”in violation of international human rights principles.Key International ActorsInternational diplomats in Bujumbura closely followed proceedings in casesaffecting human rights defenders and journalists, many personally attended hearings.Belgium’s foreign minister condemned the arrests of Kavumbagu andNyamoya and called for investigations into the allegations of torture of politicalopponents. The United States, which offered technical assistance from its FBI ininvestigations into Manirumva’s death, pressed the government to pursue highrankingofficials suspected of involvement in the killing.Many foreign governments failed to denounce restrictions on the rights of thepolitical opposition during the election period. They downplayed the lack of anequal playing field and exerted heavy pressure on the opposition to end its boycott,which resulted in alienating opposition parties.90