Dark Days for the Rule of Law

From the Geneva headquarters of the International Commission of Jurists last week came a bitter indictment of justice, Burundi-style. The jurists charge that in the aftermath of last October's unsuccessful uprising by the underdog Bahutu tribe against the Watutsi monarchy, no less than 86 Bahutus, including all of the elected officers of both houses of Parliament, were executed without even the semblance of a fair trial.

The jurists had a special reason for outrage. Alarmed by reports of mass killings, they had received permission last November from the Justice Minister of the King, Mwami Mwambutsa IV, to send their own investigator to the Burundian capital of Bujumbura. Their man showed up in December, but he did not hear until later that 22 executions took place while he was actually in town.

The Mwami seemed unmoved by the commission's report. Unconcernedly, he continued his European holiday with his curvaceous French companion, Josy.

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