As Burundi's conservative government cracks down on same-sex relationships, a court there has charged 24 people with "homosexual practices," a judicial source told AFP on Thursday.
Since 2009, homosexuality has been illegal in Burundi, with a maximum two-year prison term for consensual same-sex acts.
On February 23, police detained 17 men and seven women at a seminar held by the non-profit organization MUCO Burundi, which focuses on HIV/AIDS, in the nation's political capital Gitega.
The court is charging them with advocating homosexuality and participating in same-sex conduct, both illegal in Burundi and carrying jail sentences.
Did you read this?
"The 24 were charged with homosexual acts and instigation to homosexual acts by the public prosecutor after interrogations that lasted almost ten days," Armel Niyongere, the leader of the human rights organization ACAT Burundi, stated late Wednesday.
According to Niyongere, who has been living in exile in Belgium since 2014, they will be held in police custody while they wait for a trial.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that the accused had been charged by a Burundi judicial source who spoke anonymously to discuss the case.
The 24 were detained when neighbours allegedly informed security personnel that teenage guys and girls were present at the MUCO office.
The gang was detained on suspicion of homosexual activity, according to the police, who reported finding condoms on people at the site.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye encouraged residents to eradicate homosexuality from the nation earlier this month.
He stated in a speech, "I ask all Burundians to curse those who participate in homosexuality because God cannot stand it.
He declared, "They must be exiled and punished as outcasts in our nation.
Five human rights activists were detained by Burundian intelligence operatives last month; they were eventually charged with insurrection and endangering state security.
