ICC To Investigate Political Violence In Burundi

The International Criminal Court has announced that they will be investigating the recent uproar in political violence in Burundi.

Since the eruption of a so-called political crisis in the African country, violence has plagued the country for the past year or so. This has also lead to various imprisonments which the ICC are now going to investigate.

According to the UN Commission of Human Rights, it is estimated that more than 430 people have been killed in Burundi, due to the increasing measures of violence that erupted because of the political unrest.

The violence and deaths started back in April of last year, when President Pierre Nkurunziza started his campaign for a third term in office.

In July of that year, the president successfully won a third term in office.

However, the violence surrounding his campaign and political fighting has not stopped.

Fatou Bensouda, the prosecutor for the ICC, said that her office has reviewed various cases of violence in the country – including sexual violence, imprisonment and torture:

“…[we have investigated reports] detailing acts of killing, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as cases of enforced disappearances,” she said in a statement.

She continued saying that more than 20 000 Burundians had to seek refuge in other countries:

“…[sic] At least 3,400 people have been arrested and over 230 000 Burundians forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries,” the statement read.

Many people in Burundi feel that president Nkurunziza is incompetent for the job and thus are protesting.