By MOSES HAVYARIMANA

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Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye has pledged to release and give amnesty to political prisoners as a New Year’s gift.

Speaking at Intwari Stadium in Bujumbura on December 29, while responding to questions from citizens and journalists, President Ndayishimiye said: “I don’t want people to be arrested if they are not murderers and now we are considering giving them a New Year’s gift… We are going to do that very soon.”

President Ndayishimiye, in a presidential decree dated March 5, 2021 — a few days after assuming office — granted amnesty to 5,255 prisoners countrywide.

The beneficiaries were those sentenced to less than or five years of offences other than genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, armed robbery, illegally owning arms, terrorism, homicide, rape, and human trafficking.

It has been a tradition for Burundi presidents to give amnesty to prisoners every end of the year, but political prisoners have rarely featured. According to opposition parties, dozens of their followers are in jail since 2015 when the political crisis erupted against the former president Pierre Nkurunziza’s move to run for a third term in the office.

The UN and other international Human Rights organisations have criticised the government since 2015 of arbitrary arrests, torture and killing of opposition members in the country.

“Only murderers deserve to be in prison but other minor cases are better to be sorted out and perpetrators can be held accountable without having to imprison them,” said President Evariste Ndayishimiye. Since taking over the office in 2020, Burundi’s president prioritised mending the international relations, rule of law and respect of Human Rights in the country which deteriorated during his predecessor’s tenure.

“We have several institutions that protect Human Rights in the country which includes the parliament and the Independent Human Rights Commission so protects the rights of Burundians is not doubted,” said President Ndayishimiye.

This comes as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its report to the parliament that was unanimously voted and approved that the 1972 massacre was a genocide against the Hutu.

After three years of investigations and exhuming the remains of the victims that were dumped in mass graves in at least 10 provinces countrywide, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said that hundreds of Burundians were killed by the then government because of their ethnicity.

“No ethnic group killed the other because we don’t have any leader of a specific ethnic group but rather individuals and the former leaders should be held accountable,” said President Ndayishimiye.

“We need to build Burundi without regarding our ethnicity. People should be in position or offices by merit and not because of their ethnicity,” he added.

Burundi had suffered decades of ethnic violence that led to both Hutus and Tutsis losing their lives, President Ndayishimiye’s government said that the factor behind revealing the past is to heal families and reconcile them.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (CVR) mandate starts from 1885 when many African countries were partitioned, the commission is expected to investigate all the crimes which were committed during the civil in Burundi until 2008.

Countrywide the Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated about 4000 mass graves which are expected to be investigated.

The Commission was formed in 2014 for the reconciliation of Burundians to soothe and heal the hearts and restore Burundian society on the path of change and equal progress.