A/HRC/12/43 page 7 16. In an interview on 6 January 2009, the president of an anti-corruption NGO, OLUCOME (Observatoire de lutte contre la corruption et les malversations économiques), reported that his staff were subjected to intimidation and threats. On 8 April, OLUCOME Vice-President, Ernest Manirumva, was killed and documents pertaining to cases he was working on were allegedly stolen. The killing has been denounced by civil society as a targeted assassination motivated by political interests. 17. The Government of Burundi initiated a police and judicial investigation in the days that followed. In May, it banned a demonstration planned by civil society organizations to protest against the lack of any discernible progress in the investigations, which at the time of writing had led to no arrests. Other public demonstrations that were banned include a second attempt by civil society organizations to protest against the OLUCOME case and a demonstration against the attacks committed on persons with albinism. The only demonstrations that have been allowed to take place in the capital over the past year were organized by the ruling party in support of the proposed criminalization of homosexuality, or organized by the Government and international partners commemorating the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. 18. A draft law has been elaborated by the Government, with inputs from civil society, to establish the legal status of not-for-profit organizations and cooperative and professional associations. It is currently pending finalization. C. Trade unions 19. Strikes have intensified since May 2007, after the announced 34 per cent increase in the salaries of civil servants did not materialize. Delivery of basic supplies and sometimes of salaries has not always been forthcoming. The Government has thus faced significant discontent from civil servants, particularly in the justice, media, education and health sectors. Representatives of medical unions declared publicly that they had been threatened by members of the National Intelligence Service. 20. The vice-president of the union of non-magistrate workers at the courts of Burundi, Juvénal Rududura, was arrested in September 2008 after having publicly alleged irregularities in the recruitment process at the Justice Ministry. Rududura was tried in the anti-corruption court, the jurisdiction of which was contested. Rududura was detained throughout the process until 8 July, when he was provisionally released by the Prosecutor’s Office. The legal basis for his provisional, rather than definitive, release has been widely questioned. D. Militant youth groups 21. A disturbing trend has emerged since late 2008 involving groups of politically affiliated youth who jog in numbers through neighbourhoods shouting intimidating chants and who are referred to by both international and national observers as “militia”. Members of the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD, the Imbonerakure, have reportedly been deployed by State officials in various functions, for example, undertaking community patrols, guarding premises and accompanying - in numbers and sometimes bearing weaponry - public and police officials during arrest procedures. All the major political parties are known to have youth wings and reports have been received of outbursts of violence throughout the country attributed to these youth groups, with the trend most pronounced in the countryside.