Burundi abolishes death penalty
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 17:46:00 11/22/2008
Filed Under: Human Rights, Prison, Laws, Crime, Politics
BUJUMBURA, Burundi -- Burundi's parliament on Saturday adopted a new set of laws abolishing the death penalty for the first time in the troubled central African country.
The new penal law also incorporates elements of international law on genocide and crimes against humanity but criminalizes homosexuality.
The law overwhelmingly passed by Burundi's members of parliament still needs to be approved by the Senate and promulgated by President Pierre Nkurunziza, both steps seen as a formality.
"I would like to thank the Burundian lawmakers who have achieved a historic landmark by adopting a new penal law by 90 votes for, no votes against, and 10 abstentions," Speaker Pie Ntavyohanyuma said.
"It is a revolutionary penal law because it abolishes the death penalty for the first time in Burundi," MP and former justice minister Didace Kiganahe told AFP after the 14-hour session, which ended in the small hours of Saturday.
Kiganahe, responsible for drafting the new law, explained that it also "incorporates provisions of international law against genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, which were not considered offenses so far."
"This vote required some courage because the lawmakers voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty knowing that their electorate wanted to maintain it," he said.
Several hundred convicts have been sentenced to death in Burundi but the last execution was carried out in 1997.
According to the new law, all prisoners currently sitting on death row will see their sentences commuted into life jail terms.
Kiganahe said the new penal law, comprising 620 articles, also "introduces a raft of provisions aimed at protecting women and children against all forms of violence, notably sexual violence."
"Finally, it will also includes specific clauses criminalizing torture because this heinous practice was not punishable in Burundian law until now," he added.
The new criminal laws provide for jail terms ranging from 10 years to life for torture and from 20 years to life for rape.
Some lawmakers nevertheless bemoaned that a provision criminalizing homosexuality tarnished the new law's success.
"Unfortunately, this penal law is also a regression because it now makes homosexuality a criminal offense, whereas it had been tolerated until now," said MP Catherine Mabobori, who abstained during the vote.
Burundi is struggling to emerge from a civil war that has left at least 300,000 people dead since 1993. Its political institutions have been chronically crippled by internal wrangling.
Neighboring Rwanda abolished the death penalty in July 2007.
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