PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 16/013/2005

16 November 2005

Further Information on UA 167/05 (AFR 16/007/2005, 16 June 2005) Fear of torture or ill-treatment / Prisoner of conscience

BURUNDI Etienne Ndikuriyo (m), journalist

Amnesty International has recently learned that Etienne Ndikuriyo was released on 23 June, after nine days in detention. There are no further details available concerning the circumstances of his release or his treatment in detention.

Etienne Ndikuriyo is the director of the internet news agency Zoom Net, and also works with an independent radio station, Bonesha FM. On 9 June he published an article on Zoom Net claiming that President Domitien Ndayizeye had been "depressed" since his party, the Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU), Front for Democracy in Burundi, was defeated in local elections earlier that month. Etienne Ndikuriyo was arrested on 14 June and held at the Documentation nationale (the national intelligence agency) in the capital, Bujumbura.

No further action is required. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.