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2007 Assessment

Burundi: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Burundi: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Rule of Law
Indicators		Score
74	Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?	67
75	In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?	25
76	In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?	25
77	Is the judiciary able to act independently?	25
78	Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?	100
79	Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?	43

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?

74a: In law, there is a general right of appeal.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Articles 147-159 of the "code de procédure pénal."

74b: In practice, appeals are resolved within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Peer Review Comments: Francois Nyamoya's study of the audit office is not relevant to this category but he is an experienced lawyer and has handled important criminal cases

Peer Review Comments: The courts are completely under-staffed, under-equipped, and deprived of professional standards. Judgments take years, as do appeals. They cannot be relied upon. They are very often not executed, either.

74c: In practice, citizens can use the appeals mechanism at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Peer Review Comments: Apart from the fact that appeals are meaningless for the reasons outlined in the previous question (i.e., because they usually take years and are unlikely to be executed), there is the cost issue of corruption. According to a recent study by two Burundians scholars for International Alert, of all the sectors surveyed, the justice sector is the most corrupt, even before procurement. So, if one has to factor in that cost, then it becomes more expensive.

In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

75: In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Christophe Sebudandi, a private consultant in government and corruption, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bujumbura.

Peer Review Comments: Judgments are relatively close to written law in form.

In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

76: In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Christophe Sebudandi, a private consultant in government and corruption, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bujumbura.

Peer Review Comments: Lack of enforcement or the delay in enforcement is one of the notorious weaknesses of the justice system.

Peer Review Comments: The problem of non-implementation is enormous and widely recognized.

Is the judiciary able to act independently?

77a: In law, the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: A rticle 209 de la constitution Le pouvoir judiciaire est impartial et indépendant du pouvoir législatif et du pouvoir exécutif.

77b: In practice, national-level judges are protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Christophe Sebudandi, a private consultant in government and corruption, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bujumbura.

77c: In law, there is a transparent and objective system for distributing cases to national-level judges.

Score:

YES

Comments: the law is not clear on this purpose

References: Loi N°1/ 001 du 29 février portant réforme du statut des magistrats

77d: In law, national-level judges are protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

YES

Comments: the law is not clear on this purpose

References: Loi N°1/ 001 du 29 février portant réforme du statut des magistrats

Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?

78a: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been physically harmed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

Comments: The different reports above-mentioned don't talk about any case of a judge who has been physically harmed because of adjudicating corruption cases

References: Association burundaise pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes détenues (APRODH). Rapport dactivités : exercice 2006.

Human Rights Watch. On s'enfuit quand on les voit Exactions en toute impunité du service national de renseignement. Octobre 2006.

International Crisis Group. « Burundi : la paix et la démocratie en danger »30 novembre 2006

Ligue burundaise des droits de lhomme ITEKA. Rapport annuel sur la situation des droits de lhomme 2006

78b: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been killed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no documented cases of judges being killed related to their involvement in a corruption case during the study period. YES is a positive score. NO: A NO score is earned if there were any documented cases where a judge was killed because of his/her participation in a corruption trial. The relationship between a mysterious death and a judge\'s involvement in a case may not be clear, however the burden of proof here is low. If it is a reasonable assumption that a judge was killed in relation to his or her work on corruption issues, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments: The source reports don't mention any case of a judge who has been killed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

References: Association burundaise pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes détenues (APRODH). Rapport dactivités : exercice 2006. Human Rights Watch. On senfuit quand on les voit Exactions en toute impunité du service national de renseignement. Octobre 2006. International Crisis Group. « Burundi : la paix et la démocratie en danger »30 novembre 2006 Ligue burundaise des droits de lhomme ITEKA. Rapport annuel sur la situation des droits de lhomme 2006

Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?

79a: In practice, judicial decisions are not affected by racial or ethnic bias.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Christophe Sebudandi, a private consultant in government and corruption, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bujumbura.

Peer Review Comments: The situation seems to be improving since reforms have been made to the composition of the judiciary. After 2000 and especially 2005, there were VERY few Hutu in the justice system. Decisions were biased as everything was.

Peer Review Comments: This is a difficult question. Most Burundian Hutu feel there have been decades of ethnic bias in the justice system, whether related to political crimes or economic ones. The deep ethnicization over decades of all public functions, including the judiciary, was one of the causes of the war. Things may be evolving in a better direction with the end of the transition, but this is a slow process, marred by institutional weakness, pervasive corruption, popular distrust, and the legacies of the past (almost all the judicial sector is still Tutsi, for example).

79b: In practice, women have full access to the judicial system.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Christophe Sebudandi, a private consultant in government and corruption, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bujumbura.

Peer Review Comments: Women are discriminated against in all ways, the specific bias being that they are considered as children with no capacity and no rights. (I work on gender issues.)

79c: In law, the state provides legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

YES

Comments: This is said in an implicit way in article 40, which says that every one who is accused of an offense is presumed to be innocent until his culpability has been legally established during a process where the guaranteed necessary to his defence are guaranteed.

References: The post-transition constitution.

Peer Review Comments: As far as I know in practice, the State does not provide legal counsel and so I do not find that requirement "implicit" in article 40.

79d: In practice, the state provides adequate legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Francois Nyamoya, a lawyer and private consultant who conducted an independent study on the audit office.

Interview with Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained People, July 25, 2007, in Bujumbura.

79e: In practice, citizens earning the median yearly income can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa the president of the association for the protection of human rights and the detained people, The 25 of july, Bujumbura

Peer Review Comments: The median yearly income does not allow many citizens to bring suit. Middle class citizens are a very few earning locally (the lawyers, but barely), those earning international salaries and those getting subisidies from abroad.

79f: In practice, a typical small retail business can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with a lawyer working for Lawyers Without Borders, Aug. 31, 2007, in Bujumbura.

79g: In practice, all citizens have access to a court of law, regardless of geographic location.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained People, July 25, 2007, in Bujumbura.

Peer Review Comments: There are a significant number of regions that are far from courts. But Burundians, many of whom live on mountaintops, are used to travelling for services -- distances that I would term significant.