During the cabinet meeting from 10 to 12 May, the Minister of Justice presented a draft bill on the revision of the code of criminal procedure. For some serious offenses that are exhaustively enumerated, the search warrant is not required and the night search is also authorized.
Bujumbura Residents from neighborhoods where protests took place fear the draft bill to be revised targets their areas
“We fear for our security following the forthcoming night searches. Thieves may enter the houses calling themselves security forces and then perpetrate some crimes”, says a resident of Musaga neighborhood, one of the areas where protests took place in the capital Bujumbura in 2015.
He says people will possibly be abducted and others killed easily without any intervention. “The security forces will come and allegedly accuse residents of holding illegal weapons. How will we dismiss the accusations in the night?” he wonders.
The same views are shared by a local chief of another neighborhood where demonstrations took place over the past two years. “The decision taken by the cabinet comes to worsen the situation. We will not even be able to conduct investigation over abduction if we do not have any witness”, he says.
He also says the local chiefs will no longer distinguish troublemakers from security agents. “The search operation to be carried out in the night raises a number of questions among the population. It would rather be a good thing to keep the previous measures to operate searches and arrest people during the day to avoid any criminal act in the night”, he says.
The local chief recommends the lower and higher chambers of Parliament to seriously analyze the draft bill before it is adopted and promulgated by the Head of State
“The new measures aim to modernize the criminal procedure”
Philippe Nzobonariba, Spokesperson for the government, says the draft bill on the revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure aims to modernize the Criminal Justice system in order to eradicate crimes.
“For some serious offenses, the search warrant is not required and the night search is authorized”, says Nzobonariba.
The project also introduces a digital search that allows investigating authorities to search and retrieve data from computer systems. “It also provides for an online search from the position of judicial police officer to the system where the offense was committed”, he says.
For Nzobonariba, it is within this framework that specific research techniques such as observation, infiltration, and controlled delivery, interception of correspondence by telecommunications, data capture and sound fixation are introduced.
The current code of criminal procedure dating from April 2013 allows search operation from 6a.m. to 6p.m with search warrant.
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