(JED/IFEX) – On 22 November 2006, Serges Nibizi, an executive producer with the independent Bujumbura-based radio station Radio publique africaine (RPA), and Domitile Kiramvu, a journalist with the station, were arrested on orders of the Bujumbura Prosecutor’s Office. The two were later transferred to the Mpimba central prison, where they are currently being held. According […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 22 November 2006, Serges Nibizi, an executive producer with the independent Bujumbura-based radio station Radio publique africaine (RPA), and Domitile Kiramvu, a journalist with the station, were arrested on orders of the Bujumbura Prosecutor’s Office. The two were later transferred to the Mpimba central prison, where they are currently being held.
According to information received by JED, the two journalists, along with a third RPA journalist, Palice Ndimurukundo, were summoned by the Prosecutor’s Office to appear before judges Liévin Macuni and Pierre Claver Ndikukira, where they were charged with “violating judicial secrecy”. The charges stem from a 21 November RPA report on an alleged coup plot in which a number of prominent individuals, including former president Domitien Ndayizeye and former vice-president Alphonse-Marie Kadege, have been implicated. The trial of the accused is set to begin on 24 November.
The journalists maintain however, that no judicial secrecy has been breached, since the information in question had already been published in “Intumwe”, a pro-government newspaper owned by Willy Nyamitwe, chief communications advisor to the president.
Following the hearing, Nibizi and Kiramvu were remanded in custody, while Ndimurukundo was freed.
Nibizi and Kiramvu faced similar allegations earlier this year. On 2 and 4 October, they were summoned for questioning and then charged with “violating state security secrets” in relation to a 29 August RPA broadcast alerting the public to an imminent attack by elements within the police on the presidential palace and the home of ruling party head Hussein Rajabu (see IFEX alert of 3 October 2006).
During this first hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office had demanded that the journalists reveal their sources, although Burundi’s press laws protect source confidentiality.
