A group of human rights NGOs on Tuesday urged the Burundian authorities to release five human rights defenders arrested on charges of rebellion and undermining state security "immediately" and to stop "intimidating" civil society. "The Burundian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the five human rights defenders arbitrarily arrested" and "drop the baseless charges against them," Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative and Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote in a statement, denouncing these proceedings as "intimidating other activists. Among the four activists arrested at the airport was Sonia Ndikumasabo, president of the Association of Women Lawyers of Burundi and former vice-president of the independent National Human Rights Commission. The fifth detainee, Prosper Runyange, a member of the Association for Peace and the Promotion of Human Rights (APDH), was arrested in Ngozi (north). Since his accession to power in 2020, Burundi's president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has oscillated between signs of openness of the regime, which remains under the sway of powerful "generals", and firm control of power marked by human rights violations denounced by NGOs.

Source: Ethiopian News March 15, 2023 00:12 UTC