Gitega : journalist Gérard Nibigira’s phones still confiscated by the police

A week after his brief arrest, two cell phones of journalist Gérard Nibigira are still confiscated by the police in Gitega (political capital of Burundi). The concerned person demands that they be returned to him.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Last Thursday, our colleague should collect his two phones as the local police had promised him.

“But to his great surprise, the OPJ who is handling his case carried out a new interrogation instead of giving him his phones. He returned empty-handed,” said a witness.

The correspondent of the independent radio Isanganiro for the province of Gitega (central Burundi) confides that “I am blocked at the moment, I cannot work because it is impossible for me to communicate”.

Gérard Nibigira demands that his phones be returned to him.

The Burundian police have not yet communicated reasons behind the withholding of the telephones of one of the oldest correspondents stationed in Gitega province.

In less than two weeks, three journalists were attacked by the police and members of the CNDD-FDD youth league, the Imbonerakure, and prevented from doing their job.

Last Thursday, the new boss of the CNC (National Communication Council), the Burundian regulatory body, Espérance Ndayizeye, promised to “protect journalists in their profession”, while specifying that for legal cases, the courts must also do their work separately and independently.

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