Jean Baptiste Baribonekeza “Mpimba detention conditions are quite good given international and the country living standards”
“We found that this is a well-kept prison. We cannot say it is pretty good but detention conditions are quite good given international and the country living standards,” says Jean -Baptiste Baribonekeza, chairman of the Independent National Commission of Human rights ( CNIDH) on Tuesday, September 20 at Mpimba central prison in Bujumbura. He launched a campaign to assess the detention conditions across all Burundi prisons.
More concretely, the CNIDH chairman appreciates the way prison authorities treat prisoners.” By the time we arrived here, Mpimba prison officials were still checking the files of detainees in prolonged detention situation and whose cases have not yet been treated judicially.” According to Baribonekeza, social services (food, housing, hygiene) testify that Mpimba is a well-kept prison.
Some concerns
Baribonekeza said he found cases of many prisoners who have not yet had the opportunity to be heard by judges about their detention and those who had the opportunity to present their cases but who have not so far been informed about the rendered judgment.
He also found out some cases of prisoners who benefited from a provisional release but who are still in jail.
The chairman of the CNIDH promises to make an inventory of such cases to be submitted to justice “so that all these people should be released.”
According to Baribonekeza, this prison hosts more than 3,000 prisoners while it was designed to accommodate just 800 prisoners in colonial times.
However, invited journalists were not allowed to accompany CNIDH commissioners inside the prison to make the same observation as they did or verify the veracity of the statements made by the President.
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