Three members of local organization PARCEM are detained

Members of the local organization Speech and Action for the Awakening of Conscience and Mentality Change (PARCEM) are detained in Bujumbura central prison. The police accuse PARCEM of sending them to destabilize national security.

Pierre Nkurikiye, spokesperson for the police: “The organization was aware of those actions and it was PARCEM which sent them to do the work”.

Three PARCEM members who were arrested on 13 and 17 June 2017 were brought to Bujumbura central prison after being listened to in the public prosecutor’s department in Mukaza, central commune of Bujumbura. This happens after spending more than a week in one of the dungeons of the national intelligence service (SNR).

Pierre Nkurikiye, spokesperson for the police confirms the report. “Gatore Aimé, a high school teacher in Mbuye commune, Muramvya central province, and Marius Nizigama, a resident in Mbuye, were arrested on 13 June in Mbuye. They were caught while they were registering people. They had papers on which they wrote words to alert people”, says Nkurikiye.

“When they were asked why they were alerting people, they replied they were sent by Emmanuel Nshimirimana, a teacher at Muramvya secondary school. The latter was also arrested on Saturday 17 June and transferred to the national intelligence service in Bujumbura like the first two who were arrested for investigations”, the police says.

Nkurikiye says they were arrested for what they were doing. “PARCEM wanted to set up a group of people whose job is to denounce anything that does not work properly in their society. But what they did was different from what they were supposed to do. They only registered youth from opposition parties. The organization was aware of those actions and it was PARCEM which sent them to do the work”, he says.

According to the police, it is strange to see them registering people on papers containing messages alerting people without the permission of the local administration. That is the reason why they were detained for investigations.

Faustin Ndikumana, Chairman of local organization Speech and Action for the Awakening of Conscience and Mentality Change (PARCEM), has told IWACU that he will react later to these accusations.