Burundi's Supreme Court on Friday, December 8, convicted former prime minister Allain Guillaume Bunyoni for plotting to kill the president, and sentenced him to life in prison.

Some of his properties, four houses and 14 vehicles including a Hummer, will also be confiscated.

Bunyoni, an army general who served as the police chief and minister of internal security, was arrested in April, six months after he was sacked as prime minister.

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His trial began in November.

He faced charges of conspiracy to kill President Evariste Ndayishimiye, insulting Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca as well as abusing public office and destabilising the country’s economy.

He denied all the charges.

Bunyoni was tried with six others including an intelligence officer and a police commander, who were sentenced to 15 years in prison each.

Three others were sentenced to three years in prison and one was acquitted.

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Bunyoni, who was in the courtroom in the political capital Gitega, was heard saying the ruling was not the end of justice, suggesting he would appeal.

Bunyoni was Burundi’s prime minister from mid-2020 to September 2022, when he was sacked by President Ndayishimiye.

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Bunyoni was reported missing days before his arrest in April on charges of undermining internal security, undermining the proper functioning of the national economy and illegal enrichment.

A close ally of former president Pierre Nkurunziza who died in 2020, Bunyoni was an influential senior figure in the ruling CNDD-FDD party.