Burundi crisis: Top judge flees country as violence continues to erupt over upcoming elections
Source: ABC News Australia
The vice president of Burundi's constitutional court - which was about to decide on the legality of a hugely contested third term for president Pierre Nkurunziza - has fled the country.
His dramatic departure came only hours after police shot dead four protesters in the central African country, where violence has left at least 13 dead in just over a week.
Judge Sylvere Nimpagaritse said the court's judges had come under "enormous pressure and even death threats" from senior figures, which he refused to name, to rubberstamp the disputed candidature of the president.
Mr Nimpagaritse claimed a majority of the court's seven judges believed it would be unconstitutional for the president to stand again, but had faced "enormous pressure and even death threats" to force them to change their mind.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/burundi-crisis-top-judge-flees-country-as-violence-erupts/6445130