HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN BURUNDI

That this House expresses deep concern about the arrest of Bob Rugurika, Burundian journalist and director of the African Public Radio (Radio Publique Africaine), on several criminal charges, including conspiracy to murder, following his interview of a man claiming to have participated in the recent murder of three Italian nuns and who implicated senior state officials in the crime; calls for his immediate release and for all charges against him to be dropped; further calls for charges pressed in May 2014 against prominent human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa following comments he made on the radio about allegations that youth groups affiliated with Burundi's ruling party were receiving arms and military training, and which include threatening state security, to be dropped; is alarmed by the enduring deterioration of the political climate, the increasing clampdown on political dissent and fundamental freedoms and the subsequent risk of destabilisation of Burundi, ahead of the elections planned later this year; and further calls on the Government to make firm and direct representations and to press for continued, strong representations by the EU and the UN on the matter of these arrests and on the issue of the persistent intimidation and harassment of political opponents, journalists and human rights activists in Burundi.