The Cause of Impunity in Burundi: Magistrates` Cowardice

In May of 2015, justices of the Burundi Constitutional Courts ruled in violation of constitutional principles and the spirit of Arusha Accords. They declared that the current President of the Republic could run for office for the 3rd term. In fact, he did run for office for a third term and is now ruling in an authoritarian style. Judges` decision sacrificed ten years of peace earned thanks to the Arusha Accords, and now everything seems to be in place for many more years of violence. How did Burundi get there? Well, this book tries to answer this question. Since its independence, Burundi has gone through numerous cycles of violence due to a well-developed culture of impunity. Many scholars and lecturers have determined that the culture of impunity in Burundi has multiple causes. This theory finds its foundation in the organizational aspect of the judiciary. This book presents solid arguments based on the functional aspect of the judiciary, and these arguments invalidate the plurality theory of the cause of impunity and propose a unicity theory. The unicity theory considers only one cause of impunity: Magistrate¿s cowardice.