A/HRC/17/50 4. Slowness of the justice system and poor prison conditions 55. During his visit to Mpimba prison, the independent expert met several detainees. They complained about prison conditions and the slowness of the justice system. This slowness and the improper use of pretrial detention exacerbate health conditions in the prison, which currently holds four times as many prisoners as it can accommodate. The independent expert conveyed to the Director of Prisons his concerns regarding prison conditions. 56. The independent expert conveyed the same concerns to the Minister of Justice. He also drew the Minister's attention to the slowness of the courts' handling of certain cases and to the improper use of pretrial detention, which is one of the causes of the overcrowding of prisons, particularly at Mpimba prison. He noted how little progress had been made in the investigation of the assassination on 9 April 2009 of the Vice-President of the Observatory to Combat Economic Corruption and Malpractice (OLUCOME) and other serious human rights violations. 57. In response, the Minister of Justice undertook to examine the possibility of speeding up court proceedings and of arranging for alternative penalties for minor offences. B. Reform of the justice system 58. The inadequacy of the legal framework, the shortage of qualified personnel and the lack of material, financial and logistic resources are undoubtedly major obstacles to the sound administration of justice in Burundi. Although there has been some progress in the past five years, particularly in infrastructure rehabilitation and construction and in capacitybuilding of the judiciary, significant challenges still remain. 59. Judicial independence is one of the weakest points of the Burundian justice system. During the period covered by this report, no significant progress was achieved in strengthening the independence of the judiciary. The Status of Magistrates Act has not yet been revised in such a way as to guarantee the effective independence of magistrates, and particularly the irremovability of members of the judiciary. Magistrates are not always recruited on a competitive basis and the Supreme Council of Justice, which guarantees the independence of the judiciary, is not involved in their recruitment. The role of the Supreme Council of Justice in disciplinary matters is also marginal. Thus, some magistrates expressed the opinion that they had been transferred to another court because of the decisions that they might have handed down in a particular case. The independent expert drew the attention of the Minister of Justice to these shortcomings. The Minister gave his assurances that measures would be taken to revitalize the role of the Supreme Council of Justice in matters both of discipline and of recruitment. 60. In addition to the lack of independence of the judiciary, the Burundian justice system suffers from a lack of qualified personnel, from an historical ethnic imbalance in its membership, from a relative ignorance of national laws and international standards and from insufficient financial and logistic resources. To remedy this situation, the Government has adopted a number of measures. In particular, it has undertaken a rebalancing effort on the basis of ethnic origin and gender and has made salary adjustments. The Minister of Justice also informed the independent expert that in future members of the judiciary would be recruited by competitive examination. GE.11-13751 (EXT) 15