{"id":6145,"date":"2017-06-21T15:48:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/?p=6145"},"modified":"2017-06-23T07:35:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T07:35:07","slug":"new-threat-to-wife-of-missing-journalist-you-will-soon-join-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/new-threat-to-wife-of-missing-journalist-you-will-soon-join-him\/","title":{"rendered":"New threat to wife of missing journalist: \u201cyou will soon join him \u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe will not be held accountable for your blood\u201d, says the author of the threat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Unlike

Unlike the threat she received last March that was painted in blood on the wall, the new threat was issued in a letter supposedly signed by an identified police commissioner.<\/p><\/div>\n

The wife of Jean Bigirimana, the former Iwacu journalist who went missing from July 2016, has received a chilling message threatening her with death, a second threat she has received in the last three months.<\/p>\n

The author, an unidentified \u201cpolice commissioner\u201d accuses the journalist\u2019s wife Godeberthe Hakizimana, of travelling the world tarnishing the image of her motherland as her husband had started it. \u201cYou will soon join him where he is imprisoned\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is meant by \u201cimprisoned\u201d is not known since none has ever claimed to know the journalist\u2019s whereabouts since his disappearance.<\/p>\n

Journalist Jean Bigirimana mysteriously disappeared<\/a> on 22 July 2016. He has never been heard of ever since. Iwacu searched for him to no avail<\/a>. Some fear he was one of the bodies who were found during the search. The two bodies found in the Mubarazi River, in the central province of Muramvya, were hastily buried without formal identification<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He left a wife and two children. Last March, his wife Hakizimana was threatened with graffiti written in blood on the wall.<\/p>\n

This Tuesday morning, while she was doing her household chores, Hakizimana, 29, says her neighbours called her to see a letter they described as threatening and said was meant for her. The letter was found by a young child who then showed it to people in the compound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw it, I found it really threatening and that it was intended for me\u201d, says Hakizimana.<\/p>\n

The threatening message written in Kirundi (Burundi native language) starts by a proverb that literally translates as, \u201cwho won\u2019t hear, will hear when his eyes turn red\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then, the tract claims the senders of the message have closely monitored Hakizimana\u2019s actions and that \u201cwe are about to vomit you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new threat further accuses Hakizimana of having travelled to neighbouring Rwanda to meet with the so-called \u201cUN experts\u201d. \u201cVery soon, you will see you that you have dug your own grave\u201d, it reads.<\/p>\n

As a way to save herself, Hakizimana is advised to \u201cjoin the system\u201d. The letter also recommands her to backtrack what she has supposedly said to tarnish her country.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the tract threatens her against receiving journalists when she gets threats. \u201cNever call again those people you always gather pretending you have escaped being harmed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter warns her that if she is still alive it\u2019s only because the authors wanted to let her live.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not secure in this country\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frightening\u201d, says the mother of two. This is directly linked to the last threat I received [three months ago] when they wrote a threatening message in blood on the wall\u201d.<\/p>\n

She says she has not got any visit or message from the police or administration. \u201cI wish they came and saw that I am in danger\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

She says she lives in constant fear. She has limited movements for fear for her security. \u201cI do not do anything that requires me to move. I even wanted to continue my studies but I couldn\u2019t because my security was not guaranteed\u201d, she sobs. \u201cI am not secure in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe words are really threatening\u201d, says Pierre Nkurikiye, Spokesman for the Burundi Police. He says Hakizimana should hand the threatening letter over to the local police for verification.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is proved the threat is real, the police will carry out investigations to find the authors and take any other necessary measure to guarantee her security as it is for other citizens\u201d, says Nkurikiye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe will not be held accountable for your blood\u201d, says the author of the threat. The wife of Jean Bigirimana, the former Iwacu journalist who went missing from July 2016, has received a chilling message threatening her with death, a second threat she has received in the last three months. The author, an unidentified \u201cpolice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,670],"tags":[113,784],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145"}],"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\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6145"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6167,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions\/6167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}