Bujumbura - Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza urged his country's judiciary on Sunday to "severely" punish suspects in an alleged coup plot that has raised fears about the country's stability.
The small central African nation is emerging from more than a decade of civil war that killed some 300 000 people and pitted majority Hutus against a minority Tutsi elite.
Police have arrested more than half a dozen people including a former president since early August, accusing them of plotting to assassinate Nkurunziza and overthrow his government.
"I call on the justice system in all independence and in application of the law to severely punish those found guilty and clear those there is no proof against," Nkurunziza said in speech on local radio.
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The government said earlier this month it had strong evidence of the alleged plot including tapes and written plans, but defence lawyers and suspects denied the charges at a court hearing on Thursday.
The court is due to rule on applications from defence lawyers, who said some of the detainees had been tortured in custody. The lawyers also want to be present at all future interrogations.
Critics say the plot was invented by Nkurunziza's ruling Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) party to squash dissent. The government and prosecutors have denied it.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the European Union have urged the government to investigate fairly and openly.
Burundi was plunged into conflict by a 1993 coup after Tutsi paratroopers assassinated then President Melchior Ndadaye.
The nation's new found peace is generally seen as an African success story, but rights groups say its security forces still commit abuses.
Almost one year after landmark polls brought in his new government, Nkurunziza admitted abuses had occurred.
"There were many problems, many cases of human rights violations," the former rebel said. "Yes, we have to talk about it. For this, I ask forgiveness for all faults committed."
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