Bar Association; Law Society of Kenya; Tanganyika Law Society;
Uganda Law Society and Zanzibar Law Society. It has formal Observer
Status with the East African Community.
6. At all material times, Mr. Isidore Rufyikiri was the President of the
Burundi Bar Association and also the President of the Burundi Centre
for Arbitration and Conciliation (CEBAC) and sometime in 2013,
charges of corruption were made against him in respect of his
association with CEBAC.
7. On
24th
July
2013,
Mr.
Rufyikiri,
wrote
a
letter
Ref.:
CAMRI/0427/2013 to the Governor of Bubanza Province in Burundi
and the subject of the said letter read as “Litigation between Masenge
Venant and the Government of Burundi: warning.”
8. As a result of what was alleged by the 1st Respondent to be injurious
and defamatory declarations contained in the abovementioned letter,
the Prosecutor General of the Court of Appeal of Bujumbura, by his
letter Ref.: No.552/11/1584/2013 of 07th October 2013, filed a
complaint against Mr. Rufyikiri to the Bar Council of the Burundi Bar
Association and requested that the Council should take disciplinary
measures against Mr. Rufyikiri.
9. On 29th October 2013, Mr. Rufyikiri, then also President of The
Burundi Bar Association, organized a Press Conference in which he
made declarations allegedly considered by the 1st Respondent to be
against the rules, State security and public peace.
10. On 30th October 2013, the Prosecutor General of the Court of Appeal
of Bujumbura, by his letter No.552/11/1722/2013 of 30th October
2013, requested the Bar Council of the Court of Appeal of Bujumbura
to disbar Mr. Rufyikiri from the Roll of Advocates because of the
abovementioned declarations made on 29th October 2013.
REFERENCE NO.1 OF 2014
Page 3