Army dismisses Amnesty "lies" about civilian killings

The Burundian government on Wednesday dismissed as "lies" an Amnesty International report which condemned the country's army and rebels for killing some 600 people between last November and March this year. "This is not the first time that Amnesty International lie about Burundi or exaggerated reports based on a small issue," Burundian military spokesman Mamert Sinarinzi was quoted by the BBC as saying. "The report is based on lies because they do not have any investigator in Burundi", he added. Government temporarily releases 169 suspects Meanwhile, Burundi's State Prosecutor's office has "temporarily" released some 169 people accused of minor offences, Burundi news agency ABP said. Quoting the State Prosecutor Gerard Ngendabanka, it said these people had been in "preventive detention" for more than two years and that they would appear before the courts while living at home. The release follows the conclusion of investigations launched recently launched by the justice ministry which said that some of the detainees had committed minor offences while others had incomplete files. More than 75 percent of 10,000 people in Burundian jails were preventive detention cases, and it was hoped to deal with at least 50 percent of these people before 1 September 1999, the report stated.