Alexis Sinduhije

Alexis Sinduhije (born 5 May 1967) is a Burundian journalist and politician. After founding Radio Publique Africaine during the Burundi Civil War, Sinduhije received a CPJ International Press Freedom Award and was named to the Time 100 list of most influential people. In 2007, he left journalism to run for president, but was arrested in 2008 on a charge of "insulting the president," Pierre Nkurunziza, drawing protests on his behalf from the U.S., U.K., and Amnesty International. He was found not guilty and released in 2009. The film Kamenge, Northern Quarters follows Sinduhije before, during, and after his incarceration.

Background From 1991 to 1993, Sinduhije was a news reporter for National Radio and Television of Burundi and then became the chief news editor for La Semaine, an independent weekly newspaper that was shut down by the National Army during a military coup. He worked at Studio Ijambo, a 10 full-time journalists (Hutu and Tutsi correspondents are equally represented) independent radio production studio in Bujumbura providing programming to the BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and to national radio. His accomplishments as a journalist were recognised by Harvard University who invited him to the Kennedy School as a Shorenstein Fellow in 1997.

During the ethnically divisive Burundi Civil War, Sinduhije, who is a Tutsi, adopted a Hutu war orphan. Sinduhije later stated that it was initially hard to find donors for the project, given the regional distrust of public radio after the role that the Rwandan public radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines had played in that nation's recent genocide. The incident led Amnesty International to call on Burundian authorities to guarantee Sinduhije's safety and that of other journalists. The government of Burundi briefly banned the station on 17 September 2003 for broadcasting an interview with a spokesman for Agathon Rwasa's rebel group, the National Liberation Forces. However, other stations refused to broadcast news in solidarity until the ban was removed, and the government allowed the station to resume transition within three days. announcing his candidacy for the 2010 presidential elections. The BBC reported that his detention was widely viewed as politically motivated, given the impending presidential election. The United States Embassy in Burundi described Sinduhije's arrest as "unacceptable" and demanded his release. Burundi's ambassador to the United States responded that the Sinduhije's arrest was unconnected to the election and that Burundi was "committed to human rights". Following a series of candidate withdrawals and boycotts of a poll that opposition candidates accused of being rigged, Nkurunziza stood unopposed and was re-elected with 91.62 percent of the vote.

Sanctions and alleged involvement in rebel activity In 2010s he was subject to US and UN sanctions for the violence instigated by members of his party.

In course of the Burundian unrest (2015–2018), the Burundian government accused Sinduhije and his party, the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, of organizing the "Resistance for the Rule of Law in Burundi" (RED-Tabara) rebel group (a group based in congo at the moment). However, members of RED-Tabara denied that Sinduhije was leading them.