Sandra Muhoza, a journalist for the privately owned online newspaper La Nova Burundi, was arrested on April 13, 2024. In late 2024 she was serving a prison term of 21 months, following conviction on charges connected to comments she made in a WhatsApp group.
Muhoza was arrested in the northern Ngozi region while meeting a businessman linked to the ruling CNDD-FDD party for an interview , according to Agence France-Presse and two people familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
Muhoza was detained overnight in Ngozi before being transferred to the National Intelligence Service (SNR) headquarters in the commercial capital, Bujumbura, where she was held without access to family or legal counsel, one of the people familiar with the case said. On April 18, Muhoza was moved to Bujumbura’s Mpimpa prison, that person added.
In May, a three-judge bench considered provisional release for Muhoza but decided that she would remain imprisoned pending trial, according to independent news outlets Iwacu and SOS Médias Burundi as well as a report by four Burundian rights organizations. She was charged with contravening sections of Burundi’s penal code that criminalize showing or inciting “racial or ethnic aversion or hatred" and “undermining the integrity of the national territory,” according to one of the people who spoke to CPJ.
The charges against Muhoza were connected to comments she made on a journalists’ WhatsApp group, discussing the alleged distribution of machetes in parts of the country, those sources said.
On December 16, 2024, Muhoza was convicted of both charges and sentenced to 21 months in prison, according to news reports.
As of late 2024, CPJ did not receive any responses to its emails and text messages seeking comment from the Minister of Justice Domine Banyankimbona, Interior Ministry spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye, Prosecutor General’s Office spokesperson Agnès Bagiricenge, and government spokesperson Jérôme Niyonzima.