Amnesty International’s “Write for Rights” campaign takes place annually around 10 December, which is Human Rights Day (commemorating the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Write for Rights aims to bring about change to the lives of people or communities that have suffered or are at risk of human rights violations. Among the many actions that take place as part of Write for Rights, Amnesty raises cases of individuals, groups and communities with decision- makers who can change the situation, gives visibility to those cases by organizing public actions, and brings international attention through media and internet exposure.
On 26 April 2018, Germain was found guilty of a slew of sham charges, including “rebellion” and “threatening State security”. His previous association with the NGO Action by Christians for Abolition of Torture (ACAT-Burundi) was used against him. ACAT-Burundi had been shut down in 2016 for allegedly “tarnishing the image of the country”. But one of the prosecution’s pieces of “evidence” during the trial included an email Germain had written to them when they were still legal. Germain was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
