Burundi arrests prison director and two officials over businessman's privileges
The three Mpimba prison officials are held by the National Intelligence Service (SNR), accused of granting special treatment to a businessman linked to trade in M23-controlled.
Colonel Jimmy Ndayishimiye, director of the central prison in Bujumbura known as Mpimba, and two other prison officials are in custody of the National Intelligence Service (SNR). They are suspected of granting privileges to businessman Aloys Ntakarutimana, known as Wakenya, who is accused of running commercial activities in a zone held by the M23 armed movement in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Ndayishimiye and Spès Caritas Shurweryimana, the officer in charge of social affairs, were arrested on Thursday morning after being summoned to SNR headquarters in Bujumbura. A police major responsible for prison police was arrested on Wednesday evening, the same night Ntakarutimana was detained. Sources told SOS Médias Burundi that Ntakarutimana had earlier spent several weeks in SNR cells before his transfer to Mpimba on April 7.
The officials are suspected of easing his trips outside the prison and of allowing him a private case he had built inside the facility, where he spent part of his evenings. Sources say rivalries and denunciations inside the prison may have drawn intelligence attention to these advantages. The information has not yet been verified by SOS Médias Burundi.
Why it mattersPrison staff who allowed the businessman outings and a private case now face detention, and the case shows how inmate privileges can reach the intelligence services.