A group has urged the Burundian authorities to immediately release five human rights defenders arrested on charges of rebellion and undermining state security
The activists were arrested by the intelligence services last month as they were about to fly to Uganda from the economic capital Bujumbura, and subsequently charged with these offences.
Among the four activists arrested at the airport was Sonia Ndiku/masabo, president of the Association of Women Lawyers of Burundi and former vice-president of the independent National Human Rights Commission.
The fifth detainee, Prosper Runyange, a member of the Association for Peace and the Promotion of Human Rights, was arrested in Ngozi.
