Amissi Hakizimana arrested
On 4 July 2018, Amissi Hakizimana was released from seven days’ incommunicado detention by Bujumbura police force.
On 29 June 2018, trade unionist Amissi Hakizimana was arrested in Bujumbura and taken to an undisclosed destination by armed police officers.
Amissi Hakizimana is first secretary of SOBUGEA’s workers union which brings together employees of SOBUGEA “Société Burundaise de gestion des entrepôts et assistance des avions en escale à l’Aéroport de Bujumbura” the national company offering cargo and other airport handling services.
On 4 July 2018, Amissi Hakizimana was released from seven days’ incommunicado detention by Bujumbura police force.
On 29 June 2018, armed police officers located Amissi Hakizimana in Cibitoke, a neighbourhood in Bujumbura, where the trade unionist had been hiding due a series of intimidatory acts, including threatening telephone calls from people claiming to work for the national intelligence services. The human rights defender was forced into a police vehicle and brought to a location which was not disclosed to his family and colleagues
On 29 June 2018, trade unionist Amissi Hakizimana was arrested in Bujumbura and taken to an undisclosed destination by armed police officers.
Amissi Hakizimana is first secretary of SOBUGEA’s workers union which brings together employees of SOBUGEA “Société Burundaise de gestion des entrepôts et assistance des avions en escale à l’Aéroport de Bujumbura” the national company offering cargo and other airport handling services.
On 29 June 2018, a vehicle full of armed police officers found Amissi Hakizimana in Cibitoke, a neighbourhood in Bujumbura, where the trade unionist had been hiding following a series of intimidatory acts, including threatening telephone calls from people claiming to work of the national intelligence services. The police officers forced him into their vehicle and took him away to a destination that has not been disclosed to his family and colleagues.
Amissi Hakizimana had recently been suspended by the director of SOBUGEA, apparently as a result of his union activities. His family and colleagues fear that he may be subjected to torture while being held incommunicado.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the welfare of Amissi Hakizimana and believes that he has been targeted solely as a result of his legitimate activities in defence of labour rights in his country.
