Burundi : journalist Sandra Muhoza sentenced to four years in jail reignites the press freedom debate

SOS Médias Burundi

Ngozi, January 14, 2026 – The First Instance Court of Ngozi, in northern Burundi, sentenced journalist Sandra Muhoza, a correspondent for the independent media outlet La Nova Burundi, to four years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Burundi francs on Wednesday. She was charged with undermining the State security and inciting ethnic division.

This sentence, while less severe than the twelve years in prison and one million franc fine requested by the prosecution at the substantive hearing on December 19, 2025, confirms the journalist’s guilt. She was arrested in March 2024 and initially held in Mpimba Central Prison in Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital, before being transferred to Ngozi Prison.

A case born from WhatsApp discussions

The charges brought against Sandra Muhoza stem from comments she allegedly made in a WhatsApp group for local journalists. Already sentenced in December 2024 to 21 months in prison for a message shared in this group, she has become a symbol of the pressure exerted on press freedom in Burundi. Her lawyers denounce the accusations as vague and politically motivated.

The President’s role and the appeal for pardon

President Évariste Ndayishimiye recently invited Sandra Muhoza and journalist Kenny Claude Nduwimana, imprisoned in Mpimba, to formally request a pardon. The head of state cited the case of Floriane Irangabiye, who was pardoned in August 2024 after serving a ten-month prison sentence since January 2023.

“They know how it works,” the president told reporters in Bujumbura, noting that access to presidential pardons is an option in certain cases.

A third journalist, Didier Ndihokubwayo, formerly of Radio Maria Burundi, detained in Mpimba prison since December 2024 for “illegal possession of weapons,” was recently sentenced to three years in prison.

A conviction amid pressure on the press

This latest conviction comes amid judicial and political pressure on Burundian journalists, and limited access to an independent judiciary. According to several press freedom organizations, the continued detention of journalists on vague grounds underscores the fragility of freedom of expression in the country.

For Sandra Muhoza, the legal battle continues, and her conviction reignites the debate on the treatment of journalists in Burundi and the role of presidential pardons in a context where the independent press remains under intense pressure.