A talk-show host who was serving a 10-year prison sentence for undermining Burundi’s national integrity has told the BBC she is overjoyed to have been freed.
Floriane Irangabiye spoke to the BBC as she left Bubanza Prison nearly two years after her arrest and said she could not wait to see her two children.
The 36-year-old added that she was unlikely to continue in her role at the media company that regularly criticised Burundi’s government.
Burundi has a poor record when it comes to press freedom, ranking 108th out of 180 countries on the latest global index by the Reporters Without Borders watchdog.
Before her arrest, the journalist had been living in neighbouring Rwanda where she ran Radio Igicaniro.
At the time of her arrest in August 2022, she had come back to Burundi to attend the funeral of a family member and was sentenced the following January.
The announcement on Thursday of Ms Irangabiye’s presidential pardon came after she and her lawyers wrote letters to President Évariste Ndayishimiye asking for her release, her family say.
They also say she has a serious medical condition which has worsened while in prison.
Before her release Ms Irangabiye told the BBC Great Lakes service via text from jail that she was “very grateful to all of those who played a part in making this day happen – my family, human rights activists from Burundi and from other countries, journalist both from Burundi and internationally”.
“But especially I thank from the bottom of my heart President Ndayishimiye, who took this decision. I wish him well,” she wrote.
News of Ms Irangabiye’s pardon has been cautiously welcomed by local rights groups, who are urging Burundi’s government to release other people it says are unjustly imprisoned.
“Justice and human rights must be respected for all,” said ACAT Burundi, while FORSC said there were “thousands” of other political prisoners still “languishing” in the country’s jails.
Another high-profile detainee, a journalist called Sandra Muhoza who is being held on charges similar to those levelled at Ms Irangabiye, remains in state custody.
The East African nation was notorious for political violence and the repression of dissident voices under President Pierre Nkurunziza, who died suddenly aged 55 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Since being elected in 2020, President Ndayishimiye has been credited with improving Burundi’s international relations and enacting some reforms at home, but analysts say too little progress has been made and human rights violations continue.
Additional reporting by Cyriaque Muhawenayo and Robert Misigaro from the BBC Great Lakes service.
