Bujumbura, Wednesday. Burundi police on Tuesday
arrested the head of a key radio station close to the opposition in
connection with the murder of three Italian nuns after broadcasting an
alleged confession of the killer.
Bob Rugurika, director of the popular independent
Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), was arrested for “complicity” in the
murder of the three elderly women, killed in twin attacks in the convent
in September, his lawyer said.
RPA, which has earned a reputation for its crime
reporting, broadcast the alleged confession of a man who claimed he
killed one of the nuns. Rugurika, who faces up to 20 years in prison if
found guilty, was charged with complicity in the murder after police
demanded he deliver the man who confessed to them.
“He replied he had no authority to hold or deliver
people, but had only done his work as a journalist, his lawyer Lambert
Nigarura told reporters, criticising “the lack of independence” of
Burundi’s legal system.
The confession broadcast by RPA radio contradicts
police who arrested a man they said had also confessed. Burundi, a small
nation in central Africa’s Great Lakes region, emerged in 2006 from a
brutal 13-year civil war and its political climate remains fractious
ahead of polls in May and June.
Burundi’s last elections in 2010 were boycotted by
most opposition parties, and opponents are again accusing the ruling
party of eliminating dissent.
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