{"id":14413,"date":"2019-11-08T15:30:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T15:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/?p=14413"},"modified":"2019-11-08T15:30:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T15:30:59","slug":"olucome-pleads-for-release-of-iwacu-news-reporters-and-their-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/olucome-pleads-for-release-of-iwacu-news-reporters-and-their-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"OLUCOME pleads for release of Iwacu news reporters and their driver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Eighteen days after the four Iwacu news reporters and their driver were arrested and got thrown into Bubanza prison, the Corruption watchdog-OLUCOME calls on Burundian authorities to release them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12240\" style=\"width: 485px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12240\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-12240 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Gabriel-rufyiri.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Gabriel-rufyiri.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Gabriel-rufyiri-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Gabriel-rufyiri-768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Gabriel-rufyiri-600x345.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12240\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabriel Rufyiri: \u201cThe four Iwacu journalists and their driver were arrested while they were doing their job.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Gabriel Rufyiri, Chairman of Observatory for the fight against corruption and embezzlement- OLUCOME, says the four Iwacu news reporters and their driver who are in jail in Bubanza province should be freed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were arrested while they were trying to find out the truth about the information that was spread on social media,\u201d he says, adding that Burundians have the right to accurate information.<\/p>\n<p>For Gabriel Rufyiri, Burundian journalists have been working in dire conditions and take risks in order to inform the population since 2015.<br \/>\n\u201cPeople really need accurate and verified information, not rumors spread on social media,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Rufyiri adds that the detention of the four Iwacu news reporters doesn\u2019t reassure the population especially in this period when the country is preparing for the 2020 elections.<br \/>\nOLUCOME Chairman urges the Burundian authorities to release them without any condition. \u201cIt is regrettable to hear that they were detained instead of thanking them for their good job,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Agn\u00e8s Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi, Egide Harerimana, T\u00e9rence Mpozenzi and their driver Adolphe Masabarakiza were arrested in Musigati commune in Bubanza province on 22 October when they went to report on clashes between the Burundian security forces and a group of armed men. .<\/p>\n<p>On October 23, a judicial police officer heard them and no charge was brought against them. On October 26, Bubanza High Court accused them of \u201ccomplicity in undermining the internal security of state\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On October 31, Attorney General Sylvestre Nyandwi, said that the journalists weren\u2019t arrested because they are journalists but due to the accusations brought against them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eighteen days after the four Iwacu news reporters and their driver were arrested and got thrown into Bubanza prison, the Corruption watchdog-OLUCOME calls on Burundian authorities to release them. Gabriel Rufyiri, Chairman of Observatory for the fight against corruption and embezzlement- OLUCOME, says the four Iwacu news reporters and their driver who are in jail [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,670],"tags":[1177,924],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14414,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14413\/revisions\/14414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}