UnfilteredBrush : when the president claims to be unaware of Sandra Muhoza’s imprisonment

During a meeting organized on December 1, 2025, by the Presidency of the Republic with Burundian media professionals and international correspondents, President Évariste Ndayishimiye claimed to be unaware of the imprisonment of journalist Sandra Muhoza, detained since April 13, 2024. This statement surprised many, as her case is widely documented by human rights organizations and independent media.

The Head of State also mentioned journalist Kenny Claude Nduwimana, still detained in the cells of the National Intelligence Service (SNR) after being transferred from Bujumbura Central Prison, known as Mpimba, in the commercial capital.

Addressing the media professionals, he indicated that the imprisoned journalists could be released “if they ask for forgiveness and their cases are eligible for presidential pardon.” Yet, just hours before this statement, Sandra Muhoza had been officially notified that her detention would continue. This blatant contradiction between the judicial reality and the presidential communication raises serious questions about the coordination, or lack thereof, between the institutions responsible for justice, security, and information.

A media climate still under pressure

For several years, Burundian journalists have operated in an environment marked by constant political pressure, administrative restrictions, and repeated intimidation. Despite the reopening of some media outlets after the 2015 crisis, triggered by the controversial term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza and followed by the closure or destruction of numerous independent media outlets as well as the departure into exile of around one hundred journalists, freedom of expression remains fragile and closely monitored.

The arrests of journalists like Sandra Muhoza and Kenny Claude Nduwimana serve as a reminder that coercive practices have not disappeared. They illustrate a system where access to justice remains opaque, and where interventions by the executive branch sometimes seem to take precedence over institutional procedures.

An invitation to “ask for forgiveness” that raises questions

By making a possible release conditional on a public apology, the president shifts the responsibility onto the journalists themselves, without clarifying the accusations or the exact motives behind these detentions.

This approach fosters a climate of uncertainty that weighs heavily on the entire profession. For many in the sector, this presidential declaration, far from reassuring, highlights the persistent contradictions of the Burundian system : arrests lacking transparency, prolonged detentions without trial, and political rhetoric that shirks its responsibilities.

At a time when the small east African nation is trying to improve its image on the international stage, the situation of Sandra Muhoza, Kenny Claude Nduwimana and Didier Ndihokubwayo — a former journalist for Radio Maria Burundi, detained since December 2024 for “illegal possession of weapons” and recently sentenced to three years in prison — remains a revealing test of the limits of the official discourse on public freedoms.