• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

Burundi Court Backs President Third Term as Protests Continue

  • Protesters run across a fire towards police lines in the Musaga neighbourhood of Bujumbura, on Monday.

    Protesters run across a fire towards police lines in the Musaga neighbourhood of Bujumbura, on Monday. | Photo: AFP

Published 5 May 2015
Opinion

The vice president of the constitutional court fled the country citing “death threats.”

Burundi's constitutional court decided Tuesday that it was legal for the current president, Pierre Nkurunziza, to run for a third term, as protests against the president spill into a second week.

The news came hours after the vice president of the constitutional court Sylvere Nimpagaritse had fled the country citing “death threats.” Judge Nimpagaritse said that other judges on the court had also come under “enormous pressure” after expressing their opposition to the president's bid for a third term.

“In my soul and conscience I decided not to put my signature to a ruling, a decision which is clearly not lawful that would be imposed from the outside, and which has nothing legal about it,” Nimpagaritse told AFP before leaving the country.

A week ago, many took to the streets when the president's ruling party announced that he was its running candidate for the next elections scheduled in June. Nkurunziza has been in office since 2005 and has served two five-year terms in office. Critics and protesters say that Nkurunziza's bid for a third term is unconstitutional.

The constitution of the country states that a president is eligible for only two terms in office won by popular vote. Supporters of the president argue that his first term does not count because he was elected by the parliament, not by a public vote, to lead the transitional government in 2005.

The police shot dead four protesters Monday, just hours after departure of the top court judge. Thirteen people have reportedly died since the beginning of the nationwide protests.

Last week, the government blocked access to social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter, and stopped the live feed of three radio station for what it called “disrupting the peace.” Social media websites are mainly used by protesters to mobilize and organize.

The country has been relatively stable since 2005 after the end of a 13-year-old ethnically fueled civil war that claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people. However, many fear that the recent unrest could throw the country back into a fresh conflict.

RELATED: Russia Blocks UN Security Council Statement on Burundi

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.