And "doing so would not be a crime," says the Burundi leader who also recently had several HIV activists arrested.
Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye
The head of Burundi, an East African nation, called marriage equality a "abominable practice" and suggested that gay individuals in his nation should be rounded up and stoned as a group.
Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye told reporters during a news conference on Friday, "If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality." This was reported by Reuters.
Ndayishimiye, 55, is purportedly a staunch opponent of LGBTQ+ rights and marital equality. She is also a conservative Catholic.
“For me, I think that if we find these people in Burundi they should be taken to stadiums and be stoned, and doing so would not be a crime,” Ndayishimiye told the media, according to the BBC.
He further advised Burundians who had opted to “choose Satan” by embracing their LGBTQ+ identity while living abroad should not return home.
“If you want to choose Satan now go and live in those [tolerant Western] countries and I think those who strive to go there want to acquire those habits, they should remain there and never bring them to us," Ndayishimiye said according to the BBC.
All same-sex sexual relations are banned in Burundi and punishable by up to two years imprisonment according to Equaldex. Marriage equality is not recognized and there are minimal protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Last February, 24 people were arrested in what authorities described as a security crackdown on “homosexual practices” according to the AFP. Members of the HIV support group MUCCO Burundi were arrested as they met in Gitega.
“They are accused of homosexual practices and of inciting homosexual practices among adolescent boys and girls to whom they give money,” one activist who remained anonymous for fear of reprisal told the AFP.
Police reportedly found condoms as well as materials advocating LGBTQ+ rights which the cited as evidence in the case.