On 1 September Human Rights Watch announced that Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a well-known human rights defender from Burundi, is the winner of the 2016 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism.
Posts Tagged ‘APRODH’
News from Burundi: Release of human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa
September 30, 2014Yesterday, 29 September 2014, human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was conditionally released from prison on grounds of ill health in Burundi. [He was arrested on 16 Mat this year: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/alert-mea-laureate-2007-pierre-claver-mbonimpa-arrested-in-burundi/]
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa is the President of the Burundi Association for the Promotion of Human Rights and of Detained Persons (Association Burundaise pour la Promotion des Droits Humains et des Personnes Détenues – APRODH), one of the most active human rights organisations in Burundi. For several years, the human rights defender has documented torture and the poor conditions of detention in prisons, and has campaigned against extra-judicial killings in the country. Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was the MEA Laureate in 2007.
MEA Laureate Mbonimpa, Burundi
Only two weeks ago the High Court of Bujumbura had still rejected a request by his defense lawyers for his provisional release due to serious illness. However, the court had ordered the establishment of a medical commission to assess the health of the human rights defender (see http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/27199> . As conditions of his release, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa is not permitted to travel beyond the borders of Bujumbura city, nor is he permitted to be in the proximity of the airport, train station or ports without judicial authorisation. Moreover, the human rights defender must appear before the judge when required.
On 18 September the European Parliament adopted a resolution which condemned Mbonimpa’s detention and deemed it “representative of the mounting risks facing human rights defenders” in Burundi. The resolution also called on the EU High Representative and the 28 EU Member States to ensure “a clear and principled EU policy vis a vis Burundi that addresses the on-going serious human rights violations” in the country. http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/19/dispatches-european-parliament-stands-mbonimpa-burundi
To read more about the case of Pierre Claver Mbonimpa: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/PierreClaverMbonimpa
Human Rights Foundation intervenes for two prominent Human Rights Defenders
September 6, 2014To see and hear the HRDs speak at the the 2011 and 2010 Oslo Freedom Forums, click the link below:
ALERT: MEA Laureate 2007 Pierre Claver Mbonimpa arrested in Burundi
May 16, 2014
MEA Laureate 2007 Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa
MEA Laureate 2007, Pierre-Clavier Mbonimpa, was arrested this morning early. The latest information is that he is still detained at the Police-Judiciare. The background is rising tension in Burundi, where it is feared that President Pierre Nkurunziza is expected to campaign for a third term in office in 2015 despite a two-term constitutional limit. The Economist of 29 March 2014 already carried an article under the prescient title “Trouble Ahead” and on 17 April Paul Debbie, security chief at the UN office in Burundi, was ordered to leave the country in connection with a UN report disliked by the Government containing “allegations of weapons distribution to members of the youth league of the ruling party”. [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/04/burundi-expels-un-official-over-arms-report-2014417144546195161.html] It is feared that this youth wing, named the Imbonerakure, are being armed and trained in weapons use, raising fears of a return to civil war, even of genocide. No charges have been brought against Mbonimpa, but it is believed that the arrest is related to comments made on the radio regarding the above. Read the rest of this entry »
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 