A Burundian court on Tuesday upheld the 10-year prison sentence handed to journalist Floriane Irangabiye who was arrested last year and sentenced to a decade in prison and fined around $500 for allegedly “undermining the integrity of the national territory”.
The Court of Appeal in the economic capital Bujumbura confirmed the sentence in a ruling issued on Tuesday
Her lawyer Eric Ntibandetse who told AFP on phone said “We deplore this decision which did not take our arguments into account”, he said, vowing to appeal again to “have this unjust decision overturned”.
Armel Niyongere, head of the human rights group ACAT Burundi, told AFP the ruling was “a disgrace for the Burundian justice system”.
In March, the United Nations voiced alarm over Burundi’s treatment of human rights activists and journalists, urging the authorities to release those arrested.
“This crackdown on civil society comes as we are also seeing an assault on press freedom in Burundi,” UN human rights office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said, citing the case of Irangabiye, who was in prison “simply for doing her job”.
The ruling follows the release on Friday of five human rights campaigners who were in prison for over two months on allegations of rebellion and undermining state security.
Burundian intelligence agents had arrested the five activists in February, detaining them in Bujumbura’s central prison before they were tried in the presence of several Western diplomats.
Credit. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke
