A/HRC/12/43 page 6 III. RESTRICTED POLITICAL RIGHTS AND TARGETED VIOLENCE 11. Reports alleging violations of civil and political rights by Government officials and members of the ruling party have rapidly increased since mid-2008. Reports of restrictions on political rights, notably the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association and the right to participate in public affairs, as well as of targeted violence and intimidation, have been received from an array of sectors, including opposition political parties, civil society and trade unions. A variety of figures active in public life have been subjected to threats or to lengthy and complicated trial processes, resulting in their detention over protracted periods of time. A. Political parties 12. Between August 2008 and mid-June 2009, the United Nations received over 40 reports from around the country of prohibition of, or interference with, meetings of opposition political parties. Between 6 and 9 May 2009, for example, six FNL party members were detained in Ngozi province for holding a meeting; a meeting of UPD-Zigamibanga (l’Union pour la paix et le développement), had been banned in Muyinga province; and two students affiliated with the MSD (Mouvement pour la solidarité et la démocratie) had been arbitrarily detained in Mwaro province. A number of restrictions have been directed at the Front for Democracy in Burundi (Sahwanya-FRODEBU) and UPD-Zigamibanga, which have also had party symbols such as flags stolen or destroyed. 13. Other opposition groups have been blocked from registering as political parties. The MSD was prevented for months from registering on the grounds that its name at that time, the Movement for Security and Democracy (Mouvement pour la sécurité et la démocratie), usurped the function of ensuring security, which was the sole prerogative of the State. Its president, Alexis Sinduhije, was detained on 12 November 2008. Sinduhije’s continued detention prevented him from registering the group as a political party even after the group was renamed the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy. He was acquitted of the charge of slandering the Head of State and released on 12 March 2009. On 8 June 2009, the application for registration was submitted and approved. 14. A number of public figures are also being held in custody pending lengthy trial processes, including former parliamentarians Gérard Nkurunziza and Pasteur Mpawenayo. Former CNDD-FDD President Hussein Radjabu was detained on 27 April 2007 on charges of conspiring to threaten the internal security of the State and for slandering the Head of State. On 3 April 2009, he was found guilty of the first charge and sentenced to 13 years of servitude. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called attention to irregularities in the treatment of this case, alleging obstruction on the sharing of evidence and the infliction of torture. B. Civil society 15. Civil society organizations regularly report on violations of their right to freedom of expression, along with repeated intimidation and interference in their activities. For instance, journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu was detained in September 2008 on charges of slandering the Head of State in relation to an article he published regarding the President’s expenditures during a State visit. Kavumbagu was acquitted of these charges and released in March 2009.