A/HRC/9/14 page 2 During his visit in December 2007, the independent expert noted that the President of the Republic had reached an agreement with the main opposition groups and formed a new Government after six months of crisis. However, the crisis resurfaced in March 2008, when the ruling party, the Conseil national de défense et de la démocratie-Forces de défense et de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD), decided to remove several members of Parliament, and subsequently the First Vice-President of the National Assembly, from its ranks. The political crisis deepened in May 2008, when the President of the National Assembly, a member of the ruling party, requested the Constitutional Court to decide on the question of whether the parliamentarians who had rebelled against the ruling party could continue to remain as members of Parliament. In a decision widely seen as politically inspired rather than legally correct, the Court ruled that the 22 rebels had lost the right to sit in Parliament. The President quickly replaced them with other members of the ruling party, thereby regaining the majority in Parliament, which the ruling party had lost as a result of the rebellion. The independent expert is deeply concerned about this decision. In his view, the Court appears to have been enlisted by the executive to serve a specific political objective, thereby bringing into question its independence and credibility. By acting in this compliant manner, the Court has lent credence to the widely-held belief that the whole machinery of justice in Burundi is beholden to the executive. The independent expert therefore calls on the Government to open dialogue with all political parties in order to avoid any institutional and political crisis, which would have a negative impact on the human rights and stability of the country. He further requests the international community to remain engaged with the Government to allow that matter to be solved. The independent expert reiterates his call to the international community to support the Government in its efforts for the reform of the justice system and, more broadly, for humanitarian and development assistance.