CPJ urges Burundi to free journalist Sandra Muhoza

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 16 January 2026 |  JP Global Monitoring Desk

CPJ urged Burundian authorities to free journalist Sandra Muhoza after she was sentenced to four years and fined for comments in a journalists' WhatsApp group, saying her detention and prosecution violate due process and press freedom.

Summary

NAIROBI — The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Burundian authorities to end what it describes as the persecution of jailed journalist Sandra Muhoza, who has been handed a four-year prison sentence over comments she made in a WhatsApp group after nearly two years in detention.

Muhoza was informed of the court’s decision on January 14 and was also fined 200,000 Burundian francs, about US$68, according to reports by SOS Médias Burundi and Radio Publique Africaine, as well as a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.

Concerns over due process and freedom of expression

“The sentencing of Sandra Muhoza to four years in prison is devastating in its cruelty and injustice,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. She said the case against Muhoza was spurious, that authorities had repeatedly violated her due process rights, and that the prosecution reflected a broader disregard for freedom of expression in Burundi.

Muhoza, a journalist with the privately owned online outlet La Nova Burundi, was arrested in April 2024 in connection with comments she made in a journalists’ WhatsApp group discussing the alleged distribution of machetes in the country.

Trials, appeals, and renewed proceedings

In December 2024, Muhoza was convicted of undermining the integrity of Burundi’s national territory and inciting ethnic hatred and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, according to publicly available court documents reviewed by CPJ.

An appeals court in May 2025 invalidated that initial trial on jurisdictional grounds, leading to fresh proceedings that began in October on the same charges. In December, a group of 127 African women wrote a letter to Muhoza expressing solidarity and calling for her release, highlighting growing regional concern over her case.

CPJ has previously described Burundi as a difficult environment for independent media, citing documented cases of journalists being prosecuted on anti-state charges and incidents of physical attacks against members of the press. The organization says Muhoza’s case fits a broader pattern of pressure on journalists whose reporting or commentary is deemed sensitive by authorities.

CPJ said it did not receive immediate responses to requests for comment sent by email to Burundi’s Ministry of Justice or via messaging app to government spokesperson Jérôme Niyonzima.

ATTRIBUTION: Reporting based on statements and research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, coverage by SOS Médias Burundi and Radio Publique Africaine, and publicly available court documents reviewed by CPJ.

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