{The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the welfare of Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana. The journalist\u2019s news outlet says he has not been seen or heard from since July 22.}<\/p>\n
Bigirimana, a reporter with the independent weekly newspaperIwacu, formerly with the pro-government radio station Rema FM, left his home in the capital Bujumbura around lunch time on July 22, after receiving a phone call from a source in the country\u2019s national intelligence service, Iwacureported. He has not been seen or heard from since.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press, citing Bigirimana\u2019s wife, reported that the journalist was arrested by the National Intelligence Service and that his family fears he is dead. <\/p>\n
Godeberthe Hakizimana told The Associated Press that her husband left home for Bugaramana in the central province of Muramvya. He did not return despite saying that he would be back for dinner, Iwacureported.<\/p>\n
CPJ was unable to independently confirm that the journalist was arrested or that his life is in danger. However, Human Rights Watch has documented a pattern of abductions, arrests, torture, and killings of civil society activists, journalists, and others by government forces, armed opposition groups, and unknown assailants since April 2015, when protests broke out in response to President Pierre Nkurunziza\u2019s decision to seek a third term. CPJ is aware of at least 100 journalists who have fled Burundi since the mass protests of April 2015 and the ensuing violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cFourteen days after he went missing, Jean Bigirimana\u2019s family and colleagues are still in the dark about his whereabouts and condition,\u201d said Angela Quintal, CPJ\u2019s Africa program coordinator. \u201cWe call on the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza to disclose any information it has on the journalist\u2019s status, and if it has none, to immediately launch a thorough and credible investigation into his disappearance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bigirimana\u2019s disappearance comes a few weeks after his return from Rwanda, where he had attended a journalism training course, the AP reported.<\/p>\n
Iwacu reported on its website that it had received a call from a person claiming to be a \u201cfriend of the journalist\u201d who reported that Bigirimana was detained by intelligence agents. Iwacu said that Bigirimana was accused of having shuttled between Burundi and neighboring Rwanda and of having written an article on the life of exiled Burundian journalists living in that country. Burundi and Rwanda are in the throes of a diplomatic spat.<\/p>\n
CPJ\u2019s calls and text messages to the journalist\u2019s wife went unanswered. Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye did not return CPJ\u2019s phone calls seeking comment. CPJ\u2019s phone calls to Minister of Information Nestor Bankumukunzi went unanswered. The president of the National Council of Communication, Karenga Ramadhan, a former minister of information, told CPJ via WhatsApp on July 29 that his deputy would respond to an inquiry, but CPJ received no further communication or responses to further messages.<\/p>\n
Iwacu\u2019s director, Antoine Kaburahe, who lives in exile in Belgium, told CPJ yesterday that Jean-Baptiste Baribonekeza, president of Burundi\u2019s National Human Rights Commission, had visited the area where Iwacu\u2019s sources allege that Bigirimana was abducted and detained by intelligence agents. Baribonekeza returned to the capital on August 3 but cancelled a scheduled press conference about Bigirimana, saying he was still investigating the matter, \u201cHe called me to say the commission is still verifying information,\u201d Kaburahe said.<\/p>\n
Baribonekeza did not respond to CPJ\u2019s phone calls seeking information.
\nKaburahe told the CPJ he was disheartened after a series oftweets by presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe. Nyamitwe todaytweeted that the government is investigating Bigirimana\u2019s disappearance. Yesterday, he suggested that the opposition might be behind Bigirimana\u2019s disappearance, tweeting in French, \u201cI\u2019m starting to fear the worst. When you look closely, it\u2019s the same modus operandi of the #Sindumuja for the past for months in #Burundi,\u201d and then\u201d#Sindumuja tactics: Take a person, accuse police of having arrested them, kill them and then throw their body in the street. #Burundi.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a kind of sign and it\u2019s very discouraging,\u201d Kaburahe said. CPJ\u2019s attempts to reach Nyamitwe on his mobile phone were not successful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the welfare of Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana. The journalist\u2019s news outlet says he has not been seen or heard from since July 22.} Bigirimana, a reporter with the independent weekly newspaperIwacu, formerly with the pro-government radio station Rema FM, left his home in the capital Bujumbura […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2517],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-premium-times"],"bylines":[{"id":2517,"name":"Premium Times","slug":"premium-times","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2517,"name":"Premium Times","slug":"premium-times","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27515"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27515"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}