A/HRC/4/5 page 8 A. Major human rights violations and abuses 1. Violations of the right to life 19. During the reporting period, the security forces of the Government of Burundi were involved in various violations of the right to life. Besides the Muyinga massacre, reports confirmed that many people were summarily executed by the military forces and, to some extent, by agents of the Service national de renseignement (SNR) and members of FNL. In this regard, the independent expert received specific information about the execution of four men who had been arrested on 4 August 2006 by an agent of SNR and a police officer in the commune of Kamenge (province of Bujumbura). According to this information, the victims had been taken to a secret detention place in Kamenge where they had been tortured. On 14 August, they were transferred to the police station in the commune of Kinama. Later, police officers and agents of SNR transferred them to an unknown destination. The next day, residents of the commune of Kinama discovered their bodies riddled with bullets, wounds and injuries. Five individuals, four police officers and one SNR agent, were subsequently arrested and detained in connection with the killings. The Human Rights Division of ONUB interviewed one of the detainees, the former SNR agent, who admitted killing the four men and said that he had been paid and given an automatic Kalashnikov by SNR to carry out the killings. He showed to the interviewers a letter signed by the SNR general administrator who granted him authorization to identify and to arrest “FNL criminals” and requested that military and police personnel assist him in his task. 20. Nine mutilated bodies were recovered from the Ruzizi River/Lake Tanganika late October 2006. The victims were all adult men, some showing signs of bullet or machete wounds and/or mutilation with hands/head amputated. So far, none of the nine victims has been identified nor the motive of their death established. Local officials reported that they had been buried on the day they were found. However, there is still no information regarding the circumstances of their death. Local authorities believed that the perpetrators might be combatants of FNL. According to information gathered on this issue, it seems that no investigation has been conducted to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. 2. Violations of the right to physical integrity 21. During the reporting period, the independent expert was informed of more than 200 cases of violations of the right to physical integrity. Government forces (Forces de défense nationale), police and SNR agents, as well as administrative authorities were responsible for those reported violations perpetrated in the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza, Gitega, Cankuzo and Muyinga. The main causes of these violations can be attributed to the lack of political will to punish the perpetrators and the lack of training of the security forces. Most of the cases were reported to the relevant institutions; however, no action has been taken against the perpetrators. 22. Despite the acknowledgement of these violations, the Government of Burundi did not demonstrate its willingness to tackle this issue. It has been reported that many members of SNR were implicated in acts of torture. One of the major cases of torture occurred in SNR facilities during the detention of three high-level officials in July and early in August 2006. The independent expert who visited the detainees at Mpimba prison in October 2006 confirmed that the prisoners had been physically mistreated, which was later verified by medical report. This case will be further examined below (see paragraphs 43-56).