[JURIST] Several former Burundi government officials who were arrested and detained [JURIST report] on Tuesday are being abused in detention, according to family members of the detainees pleading for international attention on local radio broadcasts. The wife of former Vice President Alphonse Kadege said she saw police officers standing on her husband, and later, his arm was broken. Another politician's wife alleged her husband had been repeatedly kicked while in custody.

A total of eight people were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of plotting a coup attempt in Burundi [JURIST news archive]. Violence between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis has racked Burundi since its 12-year civil war [Global Security backgrounder], which was sparked by the assassination of the country's first democratically elected Hutu president in 1993. BBC News has more.