(MFWA/IFEX) – Three radio journalists in Burundi face prison sentences if found guilty on charges resulting from material they broadcast a few months ago. On 14 December 2006, a prosecutor asked a Bujumbura court to sentence each of the three journalists from privately-owned radio stations to three years’ imprisonment. Mathias Manirakiza, director of Radio Isanganiro, […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – Three radio journalists in Burundi face prison sentences if found guilty on charges resulting from material they broadcast a few months ago.
On 14 December 2006, a prosecutor asked a Bujumbura court to sentence each of the three journalists from privately-owned radio stations to three years’ imprisonment.
Mathias Manirakiza, director of Radio Isanganiro, Serge Nibizi, editor-in-chief of Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), and Domitile Kiramvu, an RPA reporter, are being tried on two counts of broadcasting information that authorities claimed could “disturb public order and security” and also for “revealing information about the judicial process”.
The prosecutor also asked the court to impose a fine of 300,000 Burundian francs (approx. US$290) on the journalists, plus an extra fine at the magistrate’s discretion to serve as reparation.
Defence lawyers for the journalists pleaded with the court to discontinue the trial and discharge the journalists, arguing that there is no evidence against them. The three journalists are still in police custody.
Under Burundian law, the tribunal has two months to deliver its judgment. But the defence lawyers say the decision is likely to be known within a few days.
The trial was held in a very intimidating atmosphere under heavy police presence and was limited to a selected audience consisting mainly of officials from Western countries and the United Nations.
In September, police lodged a complaint against three radio stations – RPA, Isanganiro and Bonesha – for reporting on alleged plans to stage fake attacks on the residences of prominent Burundian citizens, including the country’s president and the chairman of the ruling party (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, or CNDD-FDD).
Despite the stations allowing a police spokesperson airtime to refute the broadcasts, in late November the authorities arrested Nibizi and Kiramvu on charges of broadcasting information relating to state security. Manirakiza was also arrested on the same charges.
