General Cyrille Ndayirukiye, the leader of the failed May 13, 2015 coup plot against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court.
Gen Ndayirukiye, who was sentenced together with 20 other officers and men of the Burundi army, is one of the soldiers who participated in the plot to oust President Nkurunziza, as the president was away in Tanzania attending an East Africa Community (EAC) Heads of State summit convened to deliberate on peace in his troubled country.
Burundi slid into chaos last year following President Nkurunziza’s announcement that he would run for a third term. Since then over 400 people including about a dozen senior army officers have been killed, while another 200,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries.
