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Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye tasted freedom on Friday after being released from prison, where she had been serving a 10-year sentence for allegedly compromising the country’s territorial integrity. The case had drawn widespread condemnation from press freedom advocates and human rights groups.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye broke the news on social media Thursday that he was granting a presidential pardon to Floriane Irangabiye, the Burundian journalist whose 10-year prison sentence had drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups and press freedom advocates.
“I am very happy because I have just reunited with my family,” Irangabiye told reporters outside the Muyinga prison after she was released.
The arrest of Floriane Irangabiye, a 36-year-old journalist, in August 2022, while she was visiting her family in Burundi, sparked a chain of events that would ultimately lead to her imprisonment.
Her sentencing in January 2023 ignited a firestorm of international criticism, with many condemning the move as a blatant attempt to silence the press.
In a move that caught many off guard, President Evariste Ndayishimiye announced a presidential pardon for journalist Floriane Irangabiye on social media Thursday, bringing an end to her imprisonment and sparking hopes of a new era of press freedom in Burundi.
Human rights organization ACAT Burundi welcomed the presidential pardon of Floriane Irangabiye, calling her imprisonment “a gross miscarriage of justice” in a statement on social media. The group urged President Ndayishimiye to build on this momentum by freeing all others who remain unjustly detained.
Global media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said it was “relieved” with the release, but adding that Irangabiye “should never have been arrested or spent so much time behind bars”.
“We reiterate our call on the Burundian authorities to protect press freedom in the country and ensure that Burundian journalists can freely carry out their work without fear of reprisals,” it said.
Irangabiye’s case drew fierce criticism from the global community, including the United Nations, which denounced her imprisonment last year as a clear violation of her rights “simply for performing her journalistic duties”.
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The January trial of Floriane Irangabiye focused on her journalistic work at Radio Igicaniro, specifically her involvement in a program featuring two prominent critics of the Burundian government, as revealed by court documents and her legal counsel.
According to Amnesty International, Irangabiye had built a new life in Rwanda over the past decade before being detained, and the organization warned last year that her imprisonment had taken a severe toll on her physical and mental well-being.
The East African nation of Burundi ranks 108th globally in terms of press freedom, a worrying sign of the challenges faced by media professionals, as reported by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In an earlier incident this year, Sandra Muhoza, a journalist with La Nova Burundi, was taken into custody and subsequently charged with “compromising national security”, raising concerns about press freedom in the country.
Ndayishimiye, who took power in 2020, has been praised for slowly ending years of Burundi’s isolationism under former leader Pierre Nkurunziza’s chaotic and bloody rule.
Although President Ndayishimiye has been in office, Burundi’s human rights situation has not seen significant improvements, and the country, with a population of 12 million, remains mired in poverty, ranking among the poorest globally.
