Underage prisoner released

A 12-year-old Burundian boy who was arrested in April 2002 was released unconditionally on 20 February. A magistrate investigating Alexandre Nzeyimana's case ordered the release, according to Amnesty International (AI). Nzeyimana had been detained without charge at Mpimba Central Prison in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura. AI said he had been arrested near his home in the Gatora sector, Bubanza Province, on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a member of a government militia, the Gardiens de la paix, which he denied. In a statement on 20 February thanking those who had sent appeals for Nzeyimana's release, AI said the detention was in violation of Burundi law, according to which no child under 13 years of age at the time of an alleged offence may be detained. In an appeal on 27 January for Nzeyimana's release, AI said it feared that a child inmate at the Mpimba Central Prison would be ill-treated, primarily by other prisoners. AI said child detainees it had interviewed previously in Burundi had spoken of sexual abuse by other inmates. Burundi is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.