Burundi

New York, March 18, 2009--A Burundian online journalist jailed since last September was acquitted today, according to local journalists. In a separate case on Tuesday, however, authorities detained two journalists covering the activities of a former CPJ Press Freedom Award winner, according to the same sources. 

The staff at CPJ was relieved to hear that former CPJ Press Freedom Award winner Alexis Sinduhije was released from prison today. The former radio station director and veteran Burundian journalist was acquitted by a Bujumbura court after serving four months of a two and a half year jail sentence for "insulting the president." A three-judge panel acquitted Sindhujie on Wednesday after ruling that the charges against him were unsubstantiated. 

Alexis Sinduhije founded Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in 2001 to bridge Burundi's ethnic divide. Divisions between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups have sparked widespread and lingering violence throughout the country.

Under fire for alleged corruption and human rights abuses, the government of former rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza cracked down on a wide range of critical voices, including those in the press, during its first year in power. Authorities imprisoned a journalist for five months after he allegedly slandered the state in a private barroom conversation, and they launched a vicious campaign of harassment, threats, and intimidation against three independent radio stations, including Radio Publique Africaine (RPA). Government threats against RPA Director Alexis Sinduhije, who won a CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2004, drove him into hiding. Journalists said the government used the existence of an alleged coup plot as a pretext to silence dissent, including critical reports by the independent media.

February 2007

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, January 3, 2007—A court in Burundi today rebuffed the government, ordering the release of three journalists and rejecting the prosecution’s claim that their reporting in connection with an alleged coup plot compromised public security.

A panel of judges in the capital Bujumbura acquitted editor Serge Nibizi and journalist Domitile Kiramvu of Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), and director Matthias Manirakiza of Radio Isanganiro on charges that included endangering public security, defense lawyer Raphael Gahungu told CPJ. He said the three are expected to be released from custody on Thursday.

New York, December 14, 2006—Three private radio journalists returned to prison today after their one-day trial in the capital, Bujumbura, according to local journalists. The three have been jailed for more than two weeks while a fourth journalist went into hiding after receiving a judicial summons. Since September, the government has cracked down on three prominent independent stations for their critical reporting of a disputed coup plot.

New York, December 7, 2006--The number of journalists jailed worldwide for their work increased for the second consecutive year, and one in three is now an Internet blogger, online editor, or Web-based reporter, according to an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists.