Jean-Claude Kavumbagu is a Burundian Internet journalist who has been arrested on multiple occasions for issues related to his reporting. In 2011, he was charged with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in a high-profile trial and named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Olympics scandal and arrest

Kavumbagu is director of the Burundian

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

news agency Net Press. On 11 September 2008, he was arrested following the publication of an article in which he alleged that the cost of President

Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...

's trip to see the Beijing Olympics (an estimated 100 million

Burundian franc The franc (ISO 4217 code is BIF) is the currency of Burundi. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''centimes'', although coins have never been issued in centimes since Burundi began issuing its own currency. Only during the period when Burundi used ...

s) caused some civil servants’ salaries to be paid late. Following a government statement that the trip had only cost half of the alleged amount, Kavumbagu was charged with "libelous writing and insulting remarks." Amnesty International, the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...

, and International PEN protested his arrest and called for his immediate release. Kavumbagu was cleared by a court in March 2009 and released from prison. However, the prosecutor appealed the case, and as of July 2010, it remains open.

Bombing response and second trial

On 11 July 2010,

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

was attacked by suicide bombers from Al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamist militia, killing 74 and injuring 70. The following day, Kavumbagu published a blog post on his site which criticized the ability of Burundian forces to defend the country in the face of a similar attack: “The anxiety has been palpable in Bujumbura and all those who have heard about he bombingsyesterday in Kampala were convinced that if the al-Shabaab militants wanted to try ‘something' in our country, they would succeed with disconcerting ease, sour defense and security forces shine in their capacity to pillage and kill their compatriots rather than defend our country." On 17 July, he was arrested, charged with treason, questioned without the presence of a lawyer, and imprisoned in Mpimba Central Prison, Bujumbura. In Burundi, treason carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. His arrest was again denounced by a number of international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, and Front Line. A number of journalism and press freedom organizations have called for the charges against Kavumbagu to be dropped, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, International PEN, the Federation of African Journalists, the Eastern Africa Journalists Association, and Reporters Without Borders. In November 2010, Kavumbagu was denied a request for bail, and was housed with violent offenders. On 13 April 2011, the trial's prosecutor announced his intention to seek a life sentence. On 3 May,

World Press Freedom Day The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World Press Day, observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the righ ...

, around 100 Burundian journalists marched into Bujumbura to demonstrate support for Kavumbagu. On 13 May, Kavumbagu was acquitted of treason, but found guilty on the charge of publishing an article "likely to discredit the state or economy". He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment and released for time served. Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists protested the verdict, the latter reiterating its belief that "Burundi should decriminalize press offenses and allow journalists to speak and write freely without fear of harassment or arrest".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavumbagu, Jean-Claude Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Burundi Burundian journalists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People acquitted of treason Burundian prisoners and detainees Imprisoned journalists