Ndikumana holding her son appears before Muha Court of Appeal

Aline Ndikumana appeared on 6 March before the Court of Appeal of Muha commune. She is accused of illegally possessing firearms. The court postponed the trial to investigate in details charges against the detainee.

Aline Ndikumana carrying her son in front of Muha Court of Appeal

Detained for more than six months as she is accused of “illegally possessing firearms”, Aline Ndikumana, wife of ThéogèneNdikumana, communal secretary of the opposition party CNL in Nyabiraba commune of Bujumbura province currently in exile, appeared on Friday 6 March before Muha Court.
Aline Ndikumana refutes the charges brought against her and her husband. Alice considers this seizure of firearms in her plot as a pure fabrication by people who wanted to kill her husband.

Mrs Ndikumana says the hole in which the firearms were found is not located in her family’s plot. “This hole is located in the plot of our neighbor Claude Barutwanayo”.

Aline Ndikumana was arrested in the morning of Sunday 01 September after a search operation carried out in her home. Four grenades and 30 cartridges wrapped in her children’s clothes were found in a hole located in front of the kitchen.

The Bujumbura prosecutor finds these accusations against Ndikumana’s family well-founded. He indicates that if firearms are found in any household, the house owners are prosecuted adding that one of the heads of the household can be arrested in the absence of the other.
He claims that the hole in which the weapons were found is located in Théogène Ndikumana’s plot even though he did not give tangible evidence.

After a long debate which took about an hour and a half, the trial was adjourned to carry out in-depth investigations in order to identify the location of the hole in which these guns were found. The next hearing is scheduled for 18 March.

Aline Ndikumana’s lawyers welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal. They ask judges to bring this matter forward so that Aline and her son Junior be released.
Aline Ndikumana was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of BIF 100,000.