Burundi’s former Prime Minister General Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni is scheduled to be tried at a Gitega based Supreme Court next week on May 27.
The Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that Gen. Bunyoni is facing seven charges including;
- Conspiracy to change the constitutional regime
- Plot against the life of the Head of State
- Contempt towards the holders of public authority
- Illegal possession of firearms
- Undermining the proper functioning of the national authority
- Illegal taking of interest
- Illicit enrichment
The document from this court indicates that Bunyoni and his co-defendants will be tried in Gitega.
It is not specified whether they will be tried at Gitega central prison, as during the first instance.
The Supreme Court noted that, from the start of the trial of Bunyoni and his co-accused, the hearings will continue for the following days until the conclusion of the trial, as was the case previously.
His co-defendants, Colonel Désiré Uwamahoro and Colonel Destino Bapfumukeko, will be tried on two counts: Conspiracy to change the constitutional regime and Violation of professional secrecy.
Côme Niyonsaba, former manager of the Bunyoni properties, will be tried on a single charge: participation in the plot to change the constitutional regime.
Other people, including police officers who were former Bunyoni drivers and the Mubone hill chief, initially implicated in this trial, are not mentioned in the current indictment.
It is not clear whether they were acquitted or if the General Prosecutor’s Office decided to handle their cases separately.
