Kirundo High Court did not pronounce, on 20 March, the verdict of pupils from Kamuri Basic school of Kirundo province accused of defacing the picture of President Nkurunziza found in textbooks as expected.
One of the three pupils detained for scribbling on the president’s photo
The court, however, decided to transfer three of the six pupils detained since 12 March in police custody in Kirundo to Ngozi prison. The other three pupils were provisionally released on 16 March according to Kirundo province prosecutor.
A source who closely follows the case indicates that these pupils accused of scribbling on the photo of President Nkurunziza were transferred to Ngozi prison since men and women are detained separately there while in Kirundo there is no place to detain women as all arrested pupils are girls. The court therefore decided to keep the pupils in custody for 30 days.
Ferdinand Simbaruhije, Secretary General of the Federation of Associations for Children’s Rights-FENADEB requests provisional release for them. “Justice can continue its investigations while pupils continue attending classes,” says Simbaruhije adding that the lawyer of the three pupils will lodge an appeal.
IWACU Open Data
