Burundi frees journalist sentenced to 10 years in jail

Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye shows her release order after walking out of the Bubanza prison following a Presidential pardon on August 16, 2024. [AFP]

Burundi on Friday freed journalist Floriane Irangabiye, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly "undermining the integrity of the national territory", according to AFP journalists.

Irangabiye, 36, was arrested in August 2022 while visiting her family in the East African nation and sentenced in January 2023, provoking international criticism.

"I am very happy because I have just reunited with my family," Irangabiye told reporters outside the Muyinga prison after she was released.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye published a decree on the X social media on Thursday granting a "presidential pardon measure in favour of Mrs Floriane Irangabiye".

It went on to state that she benefited from "a total remission of sentences".

The human rights group ACAT Burundi hailed the decision, saying that Irangabiye's imprisonment was "illegal and unjustified". In a post on X it urged Ndayishimiye "to continue on this path by releasing all other people unjustly imprisoned".

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 provoked international condemnation, with the United Nations voicing concern last year over her imprisonment "simply for doing her job".

Her trial in January centred on her work at Radio Igicaniro and in particular her participation in a show alongside two critics of the Burundian leadership, according to court minutes and her lawyer.

She had been living in neighbouring Rwanda for a decade prior to her arrest, according to Amnesty International, which warned last year the journalist's "health has deteriorated while in detention".

Burundi ranks 108th out of 180 countries for press freedom, according to RSF.

Earlier this year Sandra Muhoza, a reporter with online outlet La Nova Burundi, was detained and later charged with "endangering internal security".

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.

But he has not improved its record on human rights and the African Great Lakes nation of 12 million people remains one of the world's poorest.