Burundi Sentences Journalist to Life in Prison for Terrorism
KAMPALA, Uganda — A journalist from Burundi has been sentenced to life in prison as a terrorist for what the government has called his involvement in a deadly gun attack there last year.
Hassan Ruvakuki, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale in
Burundi, in East Africa, was convicted on Wednesday along with 13 others
for his involvement in what the Burundian government called a terrorist
attack at a bar in September in the country’s east near the border with
Tanzania. The attack, in which gunmen wearing army fatigues and
carrying military-grade weapons burst into the crowded bar, left more
than 50 people dead and wounded.
The government blamed an armed opposition political party for the
attack. Mr. Ruvakuki was accused of involvement in the attack in part
because he interviewed a rebel leader.
Local and international human rights organizations criticized the court decision.
“It’s the duty of any reporter to interview both sides in a conflict,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement. “That is what Hassan Ruvakuki tried to do. We call on the court of appeals to overturn the conviction.”
One of Africa’s least developed, most turbulent and most strategically
located nations, Burundi has slid toward authoritarian rule since
presidential elections in 2010. Opposition parties pulled out of the
vote; a former rebel-turned-presidential candidate returned to the bush;
another was arrested on charges of working with a rebel group.
The vote was the nation’s first since a long civil war had seemingly
come to an end. Since then, the government has been in tit-for-tat
attacks with militias, and a growing list of opposition politicians have
been arrested.
The attack exposed the nation’s instability, and the government banned journalists from reporting on it.
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