Burundi: Four Iwacu Journalists Sentenced to Two and a Half Years in Prison

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores an incomprehensible political condemnation after the trial established the complete lack of grounds for the prosecution of the four reporters from the independent media.

The four journalists from the weekly Iwacu, one of the last bastions of independent information in Burundi, returned directly to their cells. Prosecuted for “complicity in endangering the internal security of the State”, Christine Kamikazi , Agnès Ndirubusa , Térence Mpozenzi , and Egide Harerimana were sentenced this Thursday, January 30, to two and a half years in prison and one million francs (482 euros) fine each. The facts were reclassified as “an attempt to complicity in the internal security of the State”. The driver accompanying them and appearing free was acquitted. The material seized during their arrest was returned to the media.

On December 30, the public prosecutor requested 15 years in prison against the journalists. The trial had however largely established that the reporters, arrested on October 22, 2019 while trying to cover the attack on a group of rebels, had no connection with the assailants. The search of their mobile phones, screened by the intelligence services, had made it possible to demonstrate that the journalists had never been in contact with this group of rebels.

“This conviction is a political sanction which has no other aim than to keep independent journalists under pressure a few months before the presidential election,” denounces Arnaud Froger. This file was assembled from scratch and these journalists, who only did their job, should have been acquitted. This sanction is incomprehensible. These journalists must be released immediately and unconditionally ”.

In January RSF launched a petition to demand the release of the four journalists.

Burundi is going through one of the worst crises in its history since Pierre Nkurunziza announced running for a third term in 2015. The ruling party has just invested a new candidate , General Evariste Ndayishimiye, for the presidential election scheduled for 20 next May. A ballot that takes shape in a context of heavy intimidation targeting information professionals and a media landscape locked by the authorities.

In July 2019, the BBC decided to close its office in the capital Bujumbura because it had been unable to find an agreement to lift its suspension after the dissemination of an investigation revealing the use of torture by intelligence agents in police stations. secret detention centers. Voice of America has been suspended indefinitely since March.

Iwacu is constantly in the crosshairs of the authorities. The newspaper’s site is regularly blocked by the authorities, requiring the intervention of RSF. One of the editorial journalists, Jean Bigirirmana, was kidnapped three and a half years ago by the intelligence services without any information being given by the authorities. RSF continues to request DNA analyzes of the two bodies found in the weeks following the disappearance of the reporter.

Burundi ranks 159th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF in 2019.

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