A/HRC/36/54 49. Most of the cases documented by the Commission involved rape or attempted rape committed while police officers or members of the Imbonerakure, sometimes acting together, were in the process of arresting the victim’s spouse or a male relative accused of belonging to an opposition party, taking part in demonstrations or refusing to join CNDDFDD, although such crimes also occurred while the victims were at home alone. These acts were frequently accompanied by offensive gender-based, political and/or ethnic remarks. The Commission wishes to emphasize the extreme cruelty of some of these acts of violence. For example, a female minor was raped by three Imbonerakure wearing police uniforms beside the body of a relative whom they had killed. Two women were raped by several men, including Imbonerakure, who subsequently mutilated their genital organs. The Commission also heard the testimonies of women who had been raped by Imbonerakure or police officers at roadblocks or near the borders because they were attempting to flee. 50. Sexual violence has been used as a means of torture to obtain information or confessions from detainees. These acts include rape, forced nudity, infliction of severe wounds on, and injection of unknown substances into, male genital organs, and the hanging of weights on testicles. The Commission heard the testimony of a female victim of rapes, including gang rapes, committed over a period of four days, inter alia by police officers in a National Intelligence Service cell with a view to obtaining information. 51. Acts of sexual violence have left the victims with severe and enduring physical and psychological trauma. Women have contracted HIV, fallen pregnant or suffered miscarriages and several men are suffering from erectile, urinary and other problems. 6. Freedom of expression 52. The restrictions on freedom of expression noted since April 2015 have continued. In contrast to previous years when Burundi had a dynamic civil society and numerous independent media, the democratic space enabling journalists to express themselves freely has been severely restricted. The Government closed four private radio stations in April and May 2015, in some cases after they were destroyed by law enforcement units. Only one of these radio stations, Radio Isanganiro, has been authorized to resume broadcasting since February 2016.21 In November 2016, the National Communications Council suspended one of the station’s programmes because it broadcast a song entitled “Human rights for journalists”. The Union burundaise des journalistes (Burundian Union of Journalists), which had denounced attacks on press freedom on numerous occasions, was suspended in October 2016. Many journalists remain in exile and international arrest warrants have been issued against some of them. 53. The Commission is concerned at instances of hate speech since April 2015. Such language, heard both in public speeches and in informal comments by Burundian authorities and leaders and members of CNDD-FDD, particularly Imbonerakure, is intended to intimidate and sometimes dehumanize opponents by equating them with animals. The use of terms such as “cockroaches” or “bugs” is disturbing, particularly as they were used in the past to refer to Tutsis, especially in Rwanda. Such speech perpetuates confusion between political opponents and that ethnic group. 54. A video circulated in April 2017 showed around a hundred Imbonerakure chanting a call to “impregnate female opponents so that they can give birth to Imbonerakure”. Following condemnation by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 22 the ruling party’s National Secretary for Information and Communication promised sanctions against the culprits. 23 A “judicial file” has apparently been opened, 24 but the Commission has received no information concerning follow-up on that file, 21 22 23 24 GE.17-13865 The Rema FM radio station, which is close to the ruling party, was also destroyed in May 2015. It resumed broadcasting in 2016. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21505&LangID=E. CNDD-FDD press release No. 0002-17-SNIC, 5 April 2017. Statement by the Permanent Representative of Burundi before the Human Rights Council, 15 June 2017. 11