In the News: two and a half years in prison for a message on the internet

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By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

Publicity

Consternation in the editorial staff of the weekly Iwacu in Burundi, one of the last independent media in the country: 4 Iwacu journalists were sentenced last Thursday to two and a half years in prison and a fine of one million Burundian francs each. Their wrong? Simply wanting to do their job. It all starts on October 22nd. Our 4 colleagues and their driver go to Musigati in the province of Bubanza to cover a rebel incursion. A few minutes after their arrival, without even having been able to start their report, the police took them on board.

What follows is an ubiquitous judicial soap opera told by Antoine Kaburahe, the founder of Iwacu : " The journalists and their driver find themselves in an insanitary dungeon, isolated, treated like criminals. In the face of the public outcry, the conditions were softened. They were finally charged with 'complicity in undermining the internal security of the State'. The charge is serious, punishable by life imprisonment. But Iwacu awaits the trial with serenity, points Antoine Kaburahe. We know they are innocent. For more than two months, journalists vegetate in Bubanza prison. Finally comes the trial. Short of accusations, the ministry exhumed a WhatsApp message, in which one of the journalists indicated: " We will go to Bubanza (…) to help the rebels ". A joke, almost clumsy, comments Antoine Kaburahe. (…) So last Thursday, he continues, the judges are faced with a dilemma: convict journalists for a joke on WhatsApp? Too big. The ridiculousness of the situation does not escape them. Relax them? What the law commands them, they do not dare. They do not have this courage, because that would be to recognize that they were mistaken. (...)

"Attempt impossible to jeopardize state security"

After several hours (of deliberation), they finally find! They will reclassify the offense. " Complicity in attacking the internal security of the state ", Iwacu journalists find themselves accused of " an impossible attempt to threaten the security of the state ". But what a stroke of genius!, Exclaims Antoine Kaburahe. In fact, he specifies, the offense does exist in Burundian criminal law. This is article 16 of the Penal Code which says " that an impossible attempt is made when a potential offender has done everything in his power to commit an offense when it could not be carried out as a result of an impossibility which he was unaware of ”. These journalists, now considered as 'delinquents', would therefore have left Iwacu to go to Bubanza in order to commit an offense (supposedly, help the rebels), but arrived there, they found themselves unable to commit their package and they ignored it. " Do not try to understand," exclaims the founder of Iwacu. There is nothing to understand ”. When questioned, several law specialists, Burundians and foreigners, were stunned. They say that " failing to say the law, the Bubanza judges were very creative ... "

" Don't kill the messenger! "

In fact, comments Iwacu's editorial writer , Léandre Sikuyavuga: “ Agnes, Christine, Terence and Aegis thought they were playing an essential role in trying to shed light on a topical issue. They should not have been prosecuted for the work they were legitimately doing. They have committed no other 'crime' than the exercise of their profession. (…) Iwacu will appeal. "

Jeune Afrique also relates this case: JA specifies that during this famous attack of October 22, " at least 14 rebels of the Burundian group RED-Tabara, based in eastern DRC, were killed, according to Burundian police. For its part, the rebel movement claimed to have killed a dozen members of the defense and security forces. Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly asked for the release of the 4 journalists. " No result.

The information is also commented in the columns of Evening in Belgium, with these words: " 'Do not kill the messenger', wrote Sophocles long ago in Oedipus King. Two good millennia later, attacking the one who brings bad news is still a common practice ”: from China, to Mexico, passing through Burundi.

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