January 25, 2011

Président de la République Pierre Nkurunziza
Présidence de la République
Boulevard de l’Uprona
Rohero I
BP 1870
Bujumbura
Burundi
Fax: +257 22 24 89 08

Monsieur Jean-Bosco Ndikumana
Ministère de la Justice et Garde des Sceaux
Ministre de la Justice et Garde des Sceaux
BP 1880
Bujumbura
Burundi
Fax: +257 22 21 86 10

Your Excellencies,

On behalf of the 3,500 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of writers dedicated to protecting freedom of expression wherever it is threatened, we are writing to express our grave concern regarding the continued detention of writer and online editor Jean-Claude Kavumbagu.

According to our information, Jean-Claude Kavumbagu was arrested on July 17, 2010, on charges of treason, defamation, and violation of Burundi’s press law for publishing an article on July 12, 2010, as the editor of the online press agency Net Press. Kavumbagu has not been tried and his request for release on bail was rejected on September 6, 2010. At his appeal hearing on November 9, 2010, his defense claimed that violating the press law and defamation do not justify preventative detention and that treason is not a valid charge. However, on November 11 the Appeal Court of Bujumbura confirmed his pre-trial detention. As of December 6, his lawyers had not received a copy of the ruling and were waiting for the trial date to be announced. Kavumbagu is being held in Mpimba Central Prison, where conditions reportedly fall well below international standards for sanitation and capacity.

Kavumbagu’s article, published the day after a suicide bombing attack on the city of Kampala, Uganda, criticized the capacity of the Burundian security forces to respond to terrorist attacks in the country. The group claiming responsibility for the bombings in Uganda, the Somali Islamist armed group al-Shabaab, has reportedly threatened to commit further acts of terrorism in Burundi in retaliation for Burundi’s participation in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). 

PEN American Center believes that Jean-Claude Kavumbagu is being held in violation of his right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Burundi is a state party. We therefore call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Thank you for your consideration of this urgent matter.

Respectfully,
                                        
Hannah Pakula                                              
Chair, Freedom to Write Committee           
                                                                       
Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write and International Programs

CC: First Vice-president
Premier Vice-président Yves Sahinguvu
Présidence de la République
BP 1870
Bujumbura
Burundi
Fax: +257 22 22 74 90

Second Vice-president
Deuxième Vice-président Mr Gabriel Ntisezerana
Présidence de la République
BP 1870
Bujumbura
Burundi
Fax: +257 22 22 74 90

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
Ministre des Relations Extérieures et de la Coopération Mme Antoinette Batumubwira
Ministère des Relations Extérieures et de la Coopération
BP 6078
Bujumbura
Burundi
Fax: +257 22 22 39 70
+257 22 24 41 16

Chief of Mission
Ambassador Angele Niyuhire
Embassy of the Republic of Burundi to the United States
2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 212
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: (202) 342-2578
 

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