Court upholds life sentence for Burundi ex-PM: source

Burundi's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the life sentence handed down to the country's former prime minister, General Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, a judicial source told AFP.

Once one of the most powerful regime figures, Bunyoni was prime minister from mid-2020 until September 2022, when he was fired, days after President Evariste Ndayishimiye had warned of an alleged coup plot against him.

He was sentenced in December to life in prison on a raft of charges including using witchcraft to threaten the president's life, destabilising the economy and illegal enrichment.

"Emmanuel Gateretse, the president of the Supreme Court... confirmed the ruling of the first judge for General Bunyoni and added a fine of 22.7 billion Burundi francs ($7.8 million) as well as the immediate confiscation of his undeclared assets," said a judicial source who requested anonymity.

The former prime minister may still appeal to the Supreme Court, said a legal expert, who also requested anonymity.

At his appeal trial at the end of May, General Bunyoni again pleaded not guilty to all charges and asked to be "purely and simply acquitted".

Since taking power in June 2020, Ndayishimiye has been lauded by the international community for gradually ending years of Burundi's isolation under Nkurunziza's chaotic and bloody rule.

But he has failed to improve Burundi's dire human rights record and the country remains one of the poorest on the planet.