The Unusual Demonstration

Some years ago, demonstrations were not allowed in Burundi. On 26 January 2015 a demonstration was carried out under full security in front of the African Public Radio station.-By J.Berchmans Siboniyo

Guillaume Harushimana and his family members in front of RPA station ©Iwacu

Three nuns, Olga, Lucia and Bernadette, were savagely killed at Guido Maria Conforti parish, on 7-8 September last year, in Kamenge commune, Bujumbura city. The police investigations were not considered credible, and the African Public Radio (RPA) carried their own investigations, which many people believe to be reliable, which caused the incarceration of Bob Rugurika, the Director of the radio station naming Guillaume Harushimana as the killer. He denied the accusations, alleging that he was in Rwanda at that time. He showed falsified documents at the National Television, which RPA claim had been fabricated at Buyenzi. Guillaume Harushimana lodged his complaints against RPA in court and at the CNC, the National Council of Communication.

The family of Harushimana did not want to wait for the outcome of the process in justice and the CNC.
At 9 AM on the 26th a group of almost 30 people, carrying a cross on which was written “Je suis Guillaume Harushimana” (I am Guillaume Harushimana), a decorated coffin and papers with writings, targeted the RPA station, with Guillaume Harushimana at the head of the group. The cross and the coffin symbolize Harushimana’s death, as the group explains. “We want RPA to clear his name, because what the station did equals killing him. He’s no more a living person”, says Emery Habimana, ‘a young brother’ of Harushimana, adding that all his family members are stigmatized in the neighborhood and being called killers.

Police officers were keeping the security, even though the demonstrators probably did not have any permission. Gabriel Rufyiri, the Chairman of Olucome, an association against corruption and economic embezzlement, states that the demonstrations must be backed by the government. He explains that it is not common these days to demonstrate without difficulty in Burundi, and even having the police assuring the security of the demonstrators.
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, the Chairman of Aprodh, an association for the protection of human rights and detainees, commended the police for letting people express how they feel by demonstrations. “This is what might be done every day for everybody. We hope it will always be like this”, he states.

Alain Ntamagendero, the Interim Director of RPA states it astonishing that the police help demonstrators without permission while citizens are always scattered whenever they try to make peaceful demonstrations. He indicates that RPA took enough time to carry out the investigations, promising that further details about the killing will be revealed later ‘for investigations are still going on’.

The demonstration ended at almost 11 AM when Bertin Gahungu, the police commissar in the western region, asked them to leave the place, after telling the group that they lack the permission to demonstrate.