A/HRC/45/32 members of the CNL have rarely been prosecuted or punished. The Ministry of Public Security has consistently identified members of the CNL as responsible for “90 per cent” of such incidents, without bothering to carry out investigations. Right to life and physical integrity 34. Several members of the CNL have been murdered in reprisal for their political activities. Violent clashes between the Imbonerakure and members of the CNL have resulted in injuries and deaths on both sides. Members of the Imbonerakure have also beaten up activists from the CNL individually or in small groups; some victims have been seriously injured, and some of these incidents constitute a form of torture. Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs 35. Acts aimed at preventing certain opposition party candidates from standing for election have taken various forms. In addition to threats, physical violence and arbitrary arrest and detention, the authorities have also made abusive use of legal means to prevent them from running. 36. The Independent National Electoral Commission rejected the applications of 4 of the 10 candidates who filed for the presidential election and of several opposition party lists for the legislative election in some provinces, mainly invoking the lack or invalidity of documents proving respect for ensuring an ethnic or gender balance. However, it offered no opportunity to correct such failures. The Constitutional Court has generally validated such decisions, with few exceptions. 37. On 18 May 2020, the State Prosecutor of the Republic requested the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove 59 candidates from the CNL from the lists for the legislative and communal elections, as the candidates were being prosecuted, with some held in pretrial detention and others officially wanted. On 19 May, the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission sent their names to the heads of the provincial electoral commissions. Indeed, according to the Electoral Code, persons in pretrial detention temporarily lose their voting rights and as such cannot be candidates in legislative and communal elections. 12 Such provisions are not only incompatible with the right to be presumed innocent; combined with the arbitrary mass detention of candidates from the CNL, they are an abusive restriction on the right to stand for election. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association 38. Before the election campaign began, local officials imposed arbitrary restrictions on the CNL for the opening or inauguration of certain offices, as well as for the holding of legitimate activities such as the organization of private or public meetings. Dozens of the party’s offices were vandalized or were partially or totally destroyed, but the arrests following such events mainly targeted the party’s own members, who were accused of trying to harm the ruling party. 39. During the election campaign, numerous election rallies were organized across the country by all the competing political parties. While most generally went well, several meetings of the CNL were disrupted or encountered obstacles. Members of the Imbonerakure, often with the support of local officials, tried to prevent some of them by occupying the venues that had been declared in advance with the local authorities. Freedom of expression 40. Particularly virulent messages of hatred and hostility towards political opponents of the CNDD-FDD party, sometimes with an ethnic dimension, circulated on social networks without eliciting the authorities’ condemnation or rebuke. The head of the CNL has regularly been presented by CNDD-FDD officials as an ally of “the country’s enemies” and “colonists”, or as a “puppet” of former President Pierre Buyoya. Such divisive comments 12 8 Republic of Burundi, Organic Act No. 1/11 of 20 May 2019 amending Act No. 1/20 of 3 June 2014 on the Electoral Code, arts. 5.1, 125 (a) and 183 (f). GE.20-10689