Burundi
Practice Relating to Rule 52. Pillage
Burundi’s Regulations on International Humanitarian Law (2007) states: “Pillage is prohibited.”
The Regulations, under the heading “Protected Objects”, further states: “Pillage and theft of these objects is prohibited.”
The Regulations also states that “pillage of public and private goods” constitutes a “violation of the laws and customs of war”.
The Regulations further lists “pillage” as a “grave breach” of IHL.
Burundi’s Military Penal Code (1980) states: “Any pillage or damage to food, commodities or effects committed in a group by soldiers … is punished with life imprisonment.”
Burundi’s Penal Code (1981) provides that a person who commits “[a]n attack whose aim it is to carry out … pillage is punished with death.”
Burundi’s Law on Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes (2003) states:
[The following are] considered as war crimes:
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B. Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflicts, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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p) pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
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D. Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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e) pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault.
Burundi’s Penal Code (2009) states:
“War crimes” means crimes which are committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes, in particular:
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2. … [S]erious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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16°. Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
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5. … [S]erious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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5°. Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault.
In 2010, within the context of a Training Workshop on Military Criminal Law for Military Judges, the Ministry of National Defence and Former Combatants stated:
The CPM [Military Penal Code (1980)] prohibits pillaging but does not define it. However, if we follow the … dictionary … , pillaging means to despoil a town or locality of its objects in a violent, disordered and destructive manner. To pillage means to devastate, ravage and sack … Pillaging supposes particular circumstances of insecurity and disruption of public order: war, riots, rebellion …
Article 47 [of the CPM] punishes by penal servitude for life all pillaging or damaging of goods, merchandises or wares committed in [a] group by servicemen, either by using weapons or force, by breaking in through external doors or windows, or by resorting to violence against people. In all other cases, pillaging and damaging in [a] group are punished by 5 to 10 years[’ penal servitude] (article 48). Nevertheless, the servicemen with the highest ranks and the instigators are punished for life.
The … [Penal Code (2009)] treats as [a] war crime the pillaging of a town or place, even when taken by assault (article 198(2°)(p) for international armed conflicts and (5°)(e) for non-international armed conflicts).