Following his July 2010 arrest, Jean-Claude Kavumbagu was charged with treason, which carries a life sentence in Burundi. Kavumbagu’s trial was held on April 13, 2011. On May 13, 2011, the verdict found Kavumbagu not guilty of treason. However, according to reports, he was found guilty under Article 50 of the Law of the Press of publishing an article “likely to discredit the state or the economy” and was handed an eight-month sentence. On May 17, 2011, Kavumbagu was released, since he had already spent 10 months in pretrial detention.
Case History
Jean-Claude Kavumbagu is the editor of the French language online newspaper Net Press.