Posts Tagged ‘Burundi’
June 21st, 2012
A High Court in
Burundi has sentenced a journalist to
life in prison over terrorism charges. Hassan Ruvakuki, a reporter for local radio station Bonesha FM and French government-funded broadcaster Radio France Internationale was found guilty of ”participating in terrorist attacks”, along with 13 other defendants. In November 2011, Ruvakuki recorded a statement from former police officer Pierre Claver Kabirigi, claiming to be the leader of a new rebel group. Upon his return to the capital of Bujumbura he was arrested by security agents and questioned him over his alleged links to the rebel group. The journalist’s lawyer plans to appeal.
May 10th, 2012
A prosecutor in
Burundi has requested a
life sentence for a journalist facing charges of terrorism. Radio journalist Hassan Ruvakuki was arrested on 28 November 2011 after interviewing an alleged member of a rebel group based in Tanzania. The journalist and 22 others are charged with “participating in acts of terrorism”. Many of the defendants, including Ravakuki, refused to enter pleas, as they believe the trial violates procedural rules and basic defence rights. The court adjourned until 20 June.
June 1st, 2011
A journalist who was imprisoned for 10 months for “publishing “information that discredits the state and economy” has vowed expose overcrowding in Burundi’s state prisons.
Jean-Claude Kavumbagu is planning to draw on his experience of life behind bars in Mpimpa Prison to expose the issue of overcrowding. The editor of news site Net Press said: “My plan is to draw attention to this and get the authorities to put it right.” Kavumbagu was released from prison earlier this month after
campaigns by human rights groups and pressure from Western governments.
April 28th, 2011
Burundi’s state-run media regulator, the National Communications Council, suspended a popular talk show on Monday (25 April) after a caller accused the President of wrongdoing. The show, Kabizi, was ordered off the air for an
initial four-day period. The caller insinuated that the President had committed war crimes during Burundi’s civil war, the show’s host had immediately stopped the caller and asked him to refer his allegations to the Burundi Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
September 7th, 2010
A journalist charged with treason will remain in
pre-trial detention, a court ruled on 6 September. Jean-Claude Kavumbagu was arrested on 17 July after he wrote an
article about the possibility of Burundi being the target for a terrorist attack. The editor of online newspaper Net Press, has been
detained four times in his 14 years of working as a journalist. If convicted he could be sentenced to life imprisonment. Judges have not yet set a date for a further hearing.
July 23rd, 2010
Burundi journalist Jean Claude Kavumbagu was arrested and
charged with treason on 17 July. Kavumbagu, the editor of online news service
Net Press, published an article that accused Burundi’s security forces of stealing and looting. It also suggested that they would be unable to prevent a terrorist attack on their country. It remains unclear why he was charged with the war-time offence of treason and not under the Burundi’s press law. On Saturday night, 15 radio stations in the capital Bujumbura
broadcast simultaneous messages calling for Kavumbagu’s release. The punishment for treason in Burundi is life imprisonment.
May 20th, 2009
Journaliste en Danger is an organisation dedicated to the defence and promotion of press freedom, initially in the DRC and since May 2003 also in Burundi, Cameroon, Coorganisation Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Thad.
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Tags: Tags: advocacy, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Coorganisation Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Coorganisation, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, media freedom, Rwanda, Thad,
June 11th, 2008
Four journalists who were jailed for alleged violations to the national security of the Burundi have been acquitted by the appeals court of Bujumbura.
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