New commission to consider releasing political prisoners

A special commission will be set up in Burundi to look into releasing prisoners convicted of political crimes, First Vice-President Martin Nduwimana said on Thursday.

"The commission has a three-month term and will be submitting a report to the government once a month," he said announcing its creation.

The body would comprise of 21 members who are to be appointed soon by ministerial decree, he
told inmates at Mpimba Central Prison in the Bujumbura, the capital.

The prisoners have been convicted of various political crimes, from forming Tutsi youth militias and fermenting a Tutsi rebellion to participating in the massacre of Tutsis in 1993 and assassinating former President Melchior Ndadaye.

The commission will determine whether the people convicted of these and other crimes qualify for early release.

The director of the prison, Col. Eduard Ndikuriyo, said the facility was now so overcrowded that the government should release all prisoners who have served a quarter of their sentences with good behaviour.

"The jail was designed by the Belgian colonial administration to hold 800 prisoners; it now holds 2,266 in total," he said.

One prisoner said he strongly supported the creation of the commission. "We are going to request that prisoners are released each month after the commission says they qualify," Pierre Ndoreraha, an inmate at Mpimba Prison, said on Friday.