Shock summons: where is the Kenny Claude Nduwimana case heading?

SOS Médias Burundi

Bujumbura, 4 December 2025- This Thursday, journalist Kenny Claude Nduwimana was summoned without prior notice to the Mukaza prosecutor’s office in the commercial city of Bujumbura, at a time when no official information had been released about the progress of his case. Neither his family nor his lawyers had been informed, plunging his circle once again into anxiety and uncertainty.

This summons occurs in a particularly opaque context. Kenny Claude had been removed from the central prison of Bujumbura, known as Mpimba, on 24 October 2025, and then secretly transferred to the cells of the National Intelligence Service (SNR). Since then, he has been detained without any authorized visits, except for a single one from the National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH). According to sources close to the case, the journalist was not tortured, contrary to practices sometimes observed in these facilities.

During his time at the SNR, Kenny Claude was reportedly questioned about his possible collaboration with Burundian journalists abroad, his communication with sources, and a letter he had addressed to the head of state a few months ago, in which he denounced abuses in the Burundian judicial system.

For context, Kenny Claude was sentenced to eight months in prison on 26 August 2024 after ten months of pre-trial detention. In December 2024, a certificate of non-appeal was issued, indicating that the case was closed and that he should be released. Yet on 21 January 2025, the public prosecutor filed an appeal, well beyond the legal 90-day limit, which the journalist and his lawyers have consistently denounced as arbitrary detention and a serious denial of justice.

This latest development comes a few days after President Évariste Ndayishimiye called on Kenny Claude and journalist Sandra Muhoza, detained in Ngozi (northern Burundi), to officially request a pardon in view of a possible presidential clemency. This requirement has sparked intense debate: how can a pardon request be submitted when the judicial procedure remains unclear and the detainee is kept in near-total isolation?

This case raises several essential questions:

Why is he being held in SNR facilities, whose methods are often criticized?

Why is access to family and lawyers almost nonexistent?

Why condition a potential release on a pardon request while significant gaps remain around the case?

At a time when press freedom in Burundi remains under heavy pressure, the situations of Kenny Claude Nduwimana and Sandra Muhoza reflect the challenges faced by media professionals in the small East African nation. Between hope for a resolution and growing concern over prolonged detention in intelligence offices, calls for transparency, respect for fundamental rights, and a fair judicial process continue to multiply.

For now, one thing remains certain: as long as these journalists are deprived of communication, judicial guarantees, and clear detention conditions, their cases will continue to symbolize the fragility of freedom of information in Burundi.