E/CN.4/2000/9 page 37 163. Jean Minani was allegedly accused of killing a former mayor of Bujumbura and arrested in March 1995. He was reportedly interrogated in the Special Investigation Brigade, where he was violently beaten and ultimately confessed to the crime of which he was accused. He reportedly complained of this illtreatment to the public prosecutor in August 1995. He was acquitted in October 1998 after his lawyer demonstrated that his confession had been obtained under torture. Eleven other persons detained in connection with the same incident were also beaten. 164. Etienne Mvuyekure, a former secretary-general of an opposition party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Burundais, was allegedly arrested on 2 November 1997 and executed shortly thereafter. He was reportedly arrested in the Rweza region, Kavumu Hill, Bujumbura, by a commander of the Muyira military zone. He is said to have been beaten violently at the time of his arrest and then taken to the barracks known as Para. Battalion. No investigation has been carried out to date. 165. Captain Protais Nzeyimana was allegedly arrested without a warrant on 8 March 1997 at Ijenda by the commander of the military brigade there. He was reportedly detained for five days. During his interrogation, he was beaten and threatened with death. He was then transferred to the National Documentation service and kept in solitary confinement. He was reportedly interrogated there several times by a military commission and beaten with various objects, including truncheons. 166. Djamali Nsabimana was allegedly condemned to death on 12 February 1998 after being found guilty of planting mines in Bujumbura in March 1997, even though he stated he was tortured on several occasions in the military barracks of Bujumbura while being interrogated in the first three days after his arrest. He is reported to have been violently beaten on the head, back, legs and soles of the feet using machetes, rods and bayonets. He was allegedly stabbed above the knee and threatened with amputation of his legs if he did not confess his crimes. Finally, he was reportedly subjected to electric shock to the fingers and genitals. After three days of torture, he allegedly signed a confession. During his trial before the Bujumbura Court of Appeals, he showed the marks of the treatment to which he had been subjected. The presiding judge nevertheless refused to order an investigation and based part of his ruling on the fact that, when Djamali Nsabimana first saw a judge, he had not complained of illtreatment. 167. On 31 August 1998, Appolinaire Nsengiyuma, Salvatore Nsavyimana and Serge Bizimana were allegedly arrested at their homes, in the Kinama and Kamenge sectors of Bujumbura, by soldiers accompanied by civilians. They were accused of involvement in opposition groups. All three were reportedly mistreated in the barracks of the Kamenge Third Operational Battalion. Appolinaire Nsengiyuma and Salvatore Nsavyimana were subsequently hospitalized around 9 September. Serge Bizimana, who suffered serious head injuries, was transferred to the Special Investigation Brigade on 12 September. 168. Pascal Ntihabose, a member of the Front for Democracy in Burundi, was allegedly arrested in Bujumbura after accusing a soldier of having ties with armed opposition groups. He was reportedly beaten at the time of his arrest and detained for several weeks by the security police at Kigobe in Bujumbura before being transferred to prison.