By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Former Prime Minister of Burundi, Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni who was sacked for allegedly plotting coup to overthrow government has filed an appeal challenging his life imprisonment.
According to judicial source and witnesses, Bunyoni appeared in court on Tuesday to challenge his conviction on charges which include attempting to overthrow the government.
He was sentenced in December to life in prison for also allegedly using witchcraft to threaten the president’s life, undermining national security, destabilising the economy and unlawful enrichment.
Once one of the most powerful regime figures, Bunyoni was prime minister from mid-2020 until September 2022 when he was fired, days after President Evariste Ndayishimiye had warned of an alleged coup plot against him.
The army general, now 52, had pleaded not guilty to all counts and said he should be acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
The appeal hearing began amid high security on Monday at the Supreme Court sitting in the prison in the political capital Gitega where he is being incarcerated.
“General Bunyoni once again categorically denied any attempt to overthrow the government,” one individual who attended the hearing told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Bunyoni reiterated his position that there was a lack of “material evidence and an absence of legal elements” to support the case against him, according to the witness.
The prosecution has also launched an appeal, asserting that Bunyoni’s sentence was too light in terms of fines and the confiscation of assets.
The former Prime Minister was arrested in April last year in Burundi’s main city of Bujumbura.
Heritage Times HT reports that the former police chief and internal security minister was seen as the head of a cabal of military leaders known as “the generals” who wielded the true political power in Burundi.
A close ally of former president Pierre Nkurunziza, Bunyoni was an influential figure in the ruling CNDD-FDD party since it took power in 2005.
Since taking power in June 2020, Ndayishimiye has been lauded by the international community for gradually ending years of Burundi’s isolation under Nkurunziza’s chaotic and bloody rule.
He has however been accused of failing to improve Burundi’s dire human rights record. Additionally, the country is seen as one of the poorest on the planet.
