Bujumbura — The Supreme Court has sentenced El Hajji Hussein Radjabu to 13 years of imprisonment. The same court has sentenced five other people involved in the case to 13 years of imprisonment.

Only two people including Jean Marie Bigirimana and Baudouin Libakale also known as Ndindi were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. These people were convicted of attempts to the State Security after Hussein Radjabu met former CNDD-FDD combatants with the intention of creating a rebel group. The Supreme Court delivered this verdict on April 3rd after a long period of deliberation.

The verdict has cut short speculation that the president of the senate, Gervais Rufyikiri, initiate while he was on mission in Rwanda in last February when he told journalists that there was a possibility that Hussein Radjabu could reintegrate the CNDD-FDD.

The sentence has not given rise to any disturbances partly because the Supreme Court gave the verdict in the absence of the thousands supporters of Hussein Radjabu who had been attending his trial. The verdict was also so known to many that there was very little room for doubt.

In various meetings, some prominent personalities of the ruling party anticipated the sentence of the Supreme Court as they revealed to their supporters that the fate of Hussein Radjabu had been sealed. The lawyer of Hussein Radjabu Niyoyankana has denounced the attitude of the judges who succumbed to the pressure of the executive, adding that the sentence was not fair. He has also revealed that he is going to appeal.

The verdict came while President Nkurunziza was away in Northern Ireland. It is speculated that Nkurunziza departure abroad was scheduled to coincide with Radjabu's sentencing to convince Burundians and the world that the executive has not influenced the verdict. Yet, the majority of Burundians suspect that this was first and foremost a political trial with aim of sidelining Radjabu Hussein, Nkurunziza's mentor. The sentence is considered a betrayal by Radjabu's political companions and sympathizers within the CNDD-FDD.

Hussein Radjabu became the President of CNDD-FDD after the election of Pierre Nkurunziza as the head of state of Burundi although many still consider that he had acted as kingmaker since he was appointed the secretary general of this former armed political movement. He afterwards became very unpopular when the independent media reported on various crimes in which involved CNDD-FDD after it won the 2005 elections.

Although the illicit sale of the presidential plane, Falcon 50, bribes that characterised the contract to rebuild the road Bujumbura-Rumonge and the extrajudicial killings of people in Muyinga and Kinama contributed a lot to reduce his popularity; it was the arrest and the imprisonment of former dignitaries and journalists in a fabricated coup that quickened his expulsion from the presidency of the party. In February 2007, the CNDD-FDD congress of Ngozi replaced him with Jérémie Ngendakumana. Hussein Radjabu never recognised this congress even though it appointed him as a member of the party's wise council along with his companion, Pierre Nkurunziza.

Many Burundians still consider El Hajji Hussein Radjabu as a scapegoat since the executive remains answerable to many crimes that dogged the country since the CNDD-FDD came to power. Politicians, including some opposition parties, still hold that political motivations led to the imprisonment of Hussein Radjabu.

The CNDD-FDD treatment of Radjabu Hussein has created a divide within the CNDD-FDD and the Muslim community. In the wake of his dismissal, the ruling party lost its majority in the national assembly where parties remains locked up in interminable wrangling over its leadership. The CNDD-FDD has also expelled from its ranks Hon Alice Nzomukunda who denounced the interference of Hussein Radjabu with the executive when she resigned from the post of the Second Vice President of the Republic.