SOS Médias Burundi

Gitega, April 14, 2025 — A detainee was shot dead on Sunday, April 13, in Nyabiharage neighborhood in the downtown of Gitega (the political capital) by a police officer while trying to escape. The victim, Jean Marie Hakizimana, 29, was being held in the Gitega provincial police station’s cell.

According to a witness contacted by SOS Médias Burundi, Hakizimana, a mechanic’s assistant by profession, took advantage of a moment while he was relieving himself in the toilet to escape. He was allegedly pursued by Corporal Evode Louis Niyonsaba, who opened fire on him.

« He was hit by two bullets, then bayoneted in the chest, » says his mother, Fabiola Niyonkuru, who describes it as a brutal murder over a simple stolen phone.

This information is confirmed by Jacqueline Ndayishimiye, chief of the Nyabiharage neighborhood, who indicates that the detainee was accused of robbery. His body was taken to the morgue at Gitega Regional Hospital.

A family abandoned, an agent still free

Ms. Fabiola Niyonkuru claims to have sought help from authorities to arrange her son’s burial, but without success. She demands independent investigations to shed light on the circumstances of this act, which she describes as murder.

« My son has never been tried. He deserved a trial, not a summary execution. »

According to information gathered by SOS Médias Burundi, the police officer who fired the shots, Corporal Evode Louis Niyonsaba, has not been arrested and remains at large.

No official statement has yet been made by police or judicial authorities regarding this case.

Police abuses continue to be denounced

This tragedy adds to a long series of accusations against law enforcement officers in Burundi. Several human rights organizations have documented extrajudicial executions, torture in detention, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in recent years, often without those responsible being held accountable.

According to an Amnesty International report published in 2024, impunity remains a structural problem within the Burundian security forces, despite promises of reform. The population, for its part, is increasingly reluctant to report abuses for fear of reprisals.

« The death of Jean Marie Hakizimana underlines the urgent need for effective oversight of law enforcement and an independent judicial system, » comments a human rights defender based in Bujumbura, Burundi’s economic capital, where UN agencies and the central administration are concentrated.

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The public square in Gitega, Burundi’s political capital, where a detainee was shot dead by a police officer (SOS Médias Burundi)