Amnesty International accuses Burundian authorities of gagging media after banning BBC and suspending VOA

In response to the Burundian government's decision to ban the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from operating in the country and to keep the suspension of Voice of America (VOA) until further notice, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, Great Lakes and Horn, said the withdrawal of the BBC's operating license and the The continued suspension of the VOA was a futile effort by the Burundian authorities to silence the media.

"The government has also banned all journalists in the country from sharing information with the BBC and VOA that can be broadcast. This decision is nothing more than an additional ploy to stifle freedom of expression, besieged since the beginning of the political crisis in April 2015.

"The Burundian authorities must stop treating the media with contempt and immediately restore crucial broadcasting services of the BBC and VOA, which are essential to ensure the independence and diversity of the media in the country and guarantee the rights of citizens to information, "she said.

Context
The National Communication Council (CNC), the regulator of the Burundian media, today announced that the BBC's operating license was being withdrawn and VOA was suspended from broadcasting in the country "until 'new order'.

Their broadcasts had initially been suspended in view of the referendum last year, in May 2018, after being accused of not complying with media laws. The CNC initially challenged an interview broadcast by the BBC in April 2018. Today, the CNC accused the BBC of producing a "defamatory, misleading and scathing" documentary. The VOA has been accused of hiring a Burundian journalist whom the authorities accuse of being involved in the failed coup d'état of 13 May 2015 and against whom they issued an arrest warrant.

Local and foreign journalists in the country are prohibited from providing information that can be broadcast by the BBC or the VOA.

These measures are part of the stringent restrictions imposed on independent media and civil society since 2015.