Burundi in the Dark Ages?
The president of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, called for the stoning of LGBTQIA people in the African country after denouncing marriage equality as an “abominable practice”.
Speaking at a Q&A session with journalists, Ndayishimiye stated that accepting LGBTQIA people attracts “a curse to the country”.
“If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality… It is better to lead (LGBTQIA people) to a stadium and stone them. And that cannot be a sin,” Ndayishimiye was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Under Burundi’s penal code, same-sex relations are punishable with a maximum penalty of two years in jail. Existing since 2009, this law has yet to lead to any successful prosecutions, but LGBTQIA living can be difficult in Burundi – e.g. marriage equality is illegal, with a a 2016 poll finding that 86% of people opposed having LGBTQIA people as neighbors, according to Equaldex.
In February 2023, a Burundi court charged 17 men and seven women after attending a HIV-related seminar in the political capital Gitega being hosted by non-profit organization MUCO Burundi. The 24 persons were accused of promoting homosexuality and engaging in same-sex acts, both considered as crimes punishable with jail terms under the Burundian law.
Ndayishimiye had earlier asked Burundians “to curse those who indulge in homosexuality because God cannot bear it… They must be banished, treated as pariahs in our country.”
