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21 suspects in Burundi's failed coup plot to face life jail

Xinhua, May 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The appeal chamber of the Burundian Supreme Court sitting in Gitega province Monday sentenced to life jail 21 suspects in the failed coup plot staged on May 13, 2015 against Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.

On top of the 21 suspects, who will face a life jail, is Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye, former Burundian defense minister and deputy-leader of the coup plotters.

Two persons who were acquitted on Jan. 15 when the Supreme Court issued the verdict were also sentenced to a life jail.

They include the retired Colonel Jean Bosco Daradangwa from the then Tutsi dominated army and General Prime Ngowenubusa.

Two persons including Nicaise Ntahomvukiye and Deo Ngabirano were on their part acquitted.

In addition to the life jail against 21 persons including four generals, an amount of 6 billion Burundi francs (3.8 million U.S. dollars) will be paid to victims of the failed coup plot.

According to the ruling, the 21 people are not either allowed to work in government-owned institutions for 20 years as of the day of the verdict.

Five other suspects were sentenced to two years in jail.

Charges against plotters of the May 13, 2015 failed coup include killing security forces and citizens and the destruction of infrastructures.

On Jan. 15, the east African country's Supreme Court's first instance sentenced former Defense Minister Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye and three other generals to life jail while seven were acquitted including the retired colonel Jean Bosco Daradangwa who was in the former Tutsi dominated army.

Other coup plotters ran away and live in exile, many of them in Rwanda.

Coup leader Major General Godefroid Niyombare is now the head of Republican Forces of Burundi (FOREBU), an armed group that has decided to combat President Nkurunziza and his government.

All 28 suspects in the failed coup plot staged on May 13, 2015 are held at Gitega prison, 102 km east of the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

During the trial, Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye has been admitting to have attempted to overthrow institutions, stressing that he staged the coup in order to have the Arusha Agreement and the Burundian constitution respected.

Coup plotters were against the candidature of Pierre Nkurunziza in the presidential election which he later won in July 2015, arguing that Nkurunziza's new term was a third term, in violation of the Arusha Agreement and the Burundian constitution that provide a two-term limit for a president of the east African nation. Enditem