Renewed bid to release journo
2005-06-21 14:28
Nairobi - Two international press freedom watchdogs on Tuesday renewed demands for the immediate release of a Burundian journalist arrested for allegedly insulting President Domitien Ndayizeye.
In separate letters to Ndayizeye, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said journalist Etienne Ndikuryo's continued detention violated Burundi's constitution.
"Despite being held in detention for seven days, however, Ndikuriye has not been brought before a judge for a hearing, as required by law," the CPJ said in its letter.
"Ndikuriyo's detention appears to be carried out in violation of Burundi's own laws and procedures," it said.
RSF echoed those comments.
"Since it appears the journalist was arrested on the order of the presidency, the law and the functioning of Burundi's institutions have thus been flouted, on the order of the person supposed to guarantee them," it said.
"Reporters Without Borders can only protest against this reign of unfairness when it reappears in a country held up an example of peaceful transition," it added.
Both groups had protested against Ndikuriyo's treatment when he was first arrested last week for writing an article in which he said the president was depressed after his party was defeated in June 3 local elections.
"Detention bad for democracy, freedom of speech"
Ndikuryo was accused of "striking a blow at the private life and honour" and "insulting the head of state" in the story published by Bujumbura's Zoom-Net newspaper and despite the appeals he was transferred to prison to await trial on Friday.
RSF and CPJ said his detention had a chilling effect on democracy and freedom of expression in Burundi at a time when the country is in the midst of a complex series of elections aimed at bringing an extended peace process to a close.
The June 3 polls for municipal councillors, in which Ndayizeye's Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu) lost heavily to the country's main Hutu ex-rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), was the first in the series and legislative elections are set for July 4.
"We urge your excellency to ensure Ndikuriyo is released immediately and unconditionally, and journalists can work freely during this crucial election period in Burundi," the CPJ said in its letter.
Burundi is still emerging from a 12-year civil war in which some 300 000 people have died.