Burundi detains opposition official

2010-09-27 20:01

Bujumbura - A Burundian opposition spokesperson was arrested and detained on Monday on charges of slander and defamation against the head of the intelligence service, his lawyer told AFP.

Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD) spokesperson Francois Nyamoya was locked up in Bujumbura's Mpimba prison after intelligence chief General Adolphe Nshimirimana filed complaints against him.

The accusations stem from comments the opposition official made to a radio station last week urging President Pierre Nkurunziza to dismiss the secret service chief.

"The intelligence service chief... filed insult and defamation complaints, accusing Nyamoya of calling him a thief and a murderer," Nyamoya's lawyer Gerard Havyarimana said.

"He also filed complaints for slander because my client publicly called on President Nkurunziza to sack him," he added.

Nyamoya denied having insulted Nshimirimana.

There are bandits

"I stand by what I said. 'There are bandits among the police force and the intelligence' but I did not say that General Adolphe was a bandit," he told reporters before he was taken to prison.

"On asking the president to sack him... every citizen has a right to ask for the dismissal of an official who does not work well".

Nshimirimana is part of the powerful core of Nkurunziza's government, which the opposition has accused of stifling freedom and rigging the May local polls, prompting their boycott of subsequent legislative and presidential votes.

The MSD, whose leader fled the country after the local polls, and the head of ex-rebel group National Liberation Forces (FNL) have claimed the government has arrested hundreds of their members in recent months.

The government suspects the MSD and the FNL of being behind recent attacks that have claimed the lives of more than 30 people and which have fuelled speculation of a renewed rebellion, but authorities have dismissed the rumours.

- AFP