Case of Burundian journalist referred to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
The appeal hearing for Burundian journalist Sandra Muhoza is expected to take place today after being postponed under a false pretext.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has contacted the African Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information to interrogate the Burundian authorities about the journalist’s situation.
Muhoza’s appeal hearin was initially scheduled for 4 March and then adjourned to 11 March, before being postponed to 19 March. According to her lawyer, Prosper Niyoyankana, the reason for the postponement was ‘the unavailability of the vehicle used to transport the detainees from Mpimba Central Prison’, due to a lack of fuel – the same excuse used in September 2024 to postpone her initial trial.
A journalist for the news website La Nova Burundi, Muhoza has been arbitrarily detained since 18 April 2024. RSF referred her case to the Special Rapporteur to interrogate the Burundian authorities about the journalist’s situation as soon as possible.
IPI Media contextualises that Muhoza was arrested on 13 April 2024 after she reportedly commented on ‘an alleged distribution of machetes to Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, in a media professionals’ WhatsApp group’.
She was first charged with ‘endangering internal security’, and in November 2024, the public prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence against her,and a fine of 1 million Burundi francs (approximately 329 Euros).
Muhoza was the second journalist arrested and imprisoned after Floriane Irangabiye, who was arrested in August 2022 and sentenced to 10 years in prison before being released on 16 August 2024.
Amnesty International reported that ‘Irangabiye was arrested in Bujumbura on 30 August 2022, on a visit from Rwanda where she was living’.
‘On 2 January 2023, she was sentenced for “undermining the integrity of the national territory”, and convicted after a deeply flawed trial in which the prosecution relied on comments she made during a radio show for Radio Igicaniro, an online platform in exile, in which she and other guests were highly critical of the Burundian government.
‘The prosecution produced no evidence of her calling for the use of violence to overthrow the government.’
Fears of arrest and legal prosecution come as a result of increasing intolerance towards media criticism and independent journalism
‘It is time to end the detention of this wrongly condemned journalist. We have decided to refer the matter … so the Burundian authorities can be held accountable for the arbitrary nature of her detention,’ said Sadibou Marong, Director of RSF’s Sub-Saharan Africa bureau.’They must fully recognise the gravity of this repressive act and release her immediately.’
- This article was first published here
