Kampala, December 2, 2024—Burundi prosecutors requested 1 a 12-year prison sentence for journalist Sandra Muhoza, who has been detained for seven months on charges 2 of undermining the integrity of Burundi’s national territory and inciting ethnic hatred.
The charges against Muhoza, a reporter for the privately owned online newspaper La Nova Burundi, are connected to messages she sent in a journalists’ WhatsApp group discussing the alleged distribution of machetes in parts of the country. A verdict in her case is expected 3 in December 2024.
“It is deeply unjust that Sandra Muhoza faces over a decade in prison for comments she made in a WhatsApp group. Unfortunately, her case is in keeping with Burundi’s history of using baseless anti-state charges to imprison journalists,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Burundian authorities must unconditionally release Sandra Muhoza and desist from criminalizing the mere act of being a journalist.”
Intelligence personnel arrested 4 Muhoza on April 13 in the northern Ngozi province while meeting a businessman affiliated with the ruling party 5 for an interview 6 , according to two people familiar with her case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation. She is currently detained at a prison in the country’s capital, Bujumbura.
CPJ’s emails to Burundi’s Ministry of Justice and app messages to Domine Banyankimbona, the Minister of Justice; Pierre Nkurikiye, the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry; Agnès Bagiricenge, the spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office; and Jérôme Niyonzima, the government spokesperson, did not receive a reply.
In 2020, authorities sentenced 7 four journalists with the independent media outlet Iwacu to 2½ years in prison on charges of undermining national security, and in 2023, sentenced 8 online journalist Floriane Irangabiye to 10 years in prison on charges of undermining the integrity of the national territory. The journalists were released 9 early 10 following presidential pardons.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists 11 and was authored by CPJ Staff.