Egide MwemeroOppressed Writers Presentation By:

Kali Booth, Thiago Fonseca, Jordan Aken, Cross Carlisle, Remy Basset-Audain, Ashleigh Polo

Biography Egide Mwemero, a Burundian journalist, is currently an exile in the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo where his whereabouts inside the country are undisclosed because of his reportings. He is now living in Congo away from his family who lives in Rwanda.

Egide’s ProsecutionEgide Mwemero was prosecuted on October 13, 2013

The reason for his prosecution was for reporting on broadcasting to foreign radio without valid authorization along with two other reporters.

The other 2 reporters were released after only two days while Mwemero remains in custody.

He is now might be extradited back to Burundi where he will face extreme danger as a journalist.

Unfair ArrestsReports of their arrests are unclear and it is unknown if they face

charges

The Congolese authorities ordered a radio station off air without reason

Journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo are often faced with a hostile environment, and the government has attacked press freedom in an effort to silence critics or dissenting opinions

In January, authorities briefly blocked Internet and cellphone service throughout the country

In March during a pro-democracy rally, government forces arrested about 30 individuals, several of whom were journalists covering the protest and some of whom reported being assaulted

Universal Declaration of Human RightsSet of codes and articles adopted by many countries worldwide, a few

of which being allies with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The detainment of Egide Mwemero violates these codes and therefore Congo’s allies would agree that Mwemero should no longer be held without charges.

President Pierre Nkurunziza●President since 2005

●Was the Chairman of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy- Forces of National Council for the Defense of Democracy the Defence Democracy (CNDD-FDD)

●Was controversially nominated by his party for a third term in office

●Supporters and opponents of Nkurunziza disagreed as to whether it was legal for him to run again, and protests followed

●Two months of anti-Nkurunziza protests, which were often violently repressed, left at least 100 dead