SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI

Decision No. ICC-01/17-X

Date: October 25, 2017
Date Public Redacted Version: November 9, 2017

PRE-TRIAL CHAMBER III of the International Criminal Court (“Court”) issues this decision
pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute (“Statute”) on the authorization of an investigation into
the situation in the Republic of Burundi (“Burundi”).
FACTS:
Burundi signed the Rome Statute in January 1999 and ratified it in September 2004. Burundi
became a state party to the ICC in December 2004. Throughout its history, Burundi has
experienced allegations of serious international crimes in the course of numerous civil wars.
Reconstruction efforts in Burundi were upended on 25 April 2015 when incumbent President
Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office. Widespread violence
occurred against civilian demonstrators questioning the legality of the process. Members of
the Burundi ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, and government security forces,
particularly the national intelligence service (Service National de Renseignement, SNR), and the
Burundian National Police (Police Nationale du Burundi, PNB), have killed and tortured scores of
opposition political party members and other perceived opponents since the start of the crisis. On
April 25, 2016, the ICC prosecutor announced a preliminary examination to determine if an
investigation into alleged Rome Statute crimes from April 2015 onwards was warranted. The
decision followed communications about alleged crimes including killings, imprisonment,
enforced, disappearances, torture, sexual and gender-based crimes, and other widespread violence
against civilians and human rights activists.
ISSUE:
Whether the information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that a crime within the
jurisdiction of the Court has been or is being committed.
HELD:
The Chamber recalls that, for a crime to fall within the jurisdiction of the Court, all jurisdictional
prerequisites must be satisfied. Thus, the crime must: (i) fall within the category of crimes set out
in Article 5 and defined in Articles 6 to 8 of the Statute (jurisdiction ratione materiae); (ii) fulfil
the temporal conditions specified in Article 11 of the Statute (jurisdiction ratione temporis); and
(iii) meet one of the two requirements contained in Article 12(2) of the Statute (jurisdiction ratione
loci or ratione personae).1
In the case, the Court held that “by ratifying the Statute, a State Party accepts, in accordance with Arts.
12(1) and (2) of the Statute, the jurisdiction of the Court over all Art. 5 crimes committed either by its
nationals or on its territory for a period starting at the moment of the entry into force of the Statute for
that State.”

1
Kenya Article 15 Decision, para. 39.
In its decision authorizing an investigation, the Chamber found a reasonable basis to believe that
State agents and groups implementing State policies, together with members of the
"Imbonerakure" launched a widespread and systematic attack against the Burundian civilian
population.
The attack targeted those who opposed or were perceived to oppose the ruling party after the
announcement, in April 2015, that President Pierre Nkurunziza was going to run for a third term
in office.
The following crimes against humanity were allegedly committed both in and outside of Burundi
by Burundian nationals, between April 26,2015 and October 26, 2017:
 murder and attempted murder
 imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty
 torture
 rape
 enforced disappearance
 persecution

If evidence suggests other continuous or related crimes in the Court's jurisdiction occurred, the
ICC Prosecutor's investigation can expand to include those crimes.