President Pierre Nkurunziza
GITEGA, March 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Three Burundi schoolgirls arrested for allegedly scribbling on President Pierre Nkurunziza’s photo have been released on bail.
The girls were charged with “insulting the head of state” last Monday and could face up to five years in prison.
Their lawyer Nyanzira Prosper said the girls have been freed on bail until they appear in court.
Prosper said their charges still stand and prosecutors will continue to investigate them.
“We appreciate the work of the court which looks to have acted with independence,” he said of their release.
Addressing the allegations against them, Prosper said there is “not any evidence of guilt” apart from the books being under their names.
He said he expects the girls, aged 15, 16 and 17, to go back to school in order to sit upcoming exams.
They were arrested two weeks ago after the president’s image was defaced in textbooks. Four other students, arrested with them in Burundi’s northeast Kirundo province, were later released.
Since their arrest, a campaign to “#FreeOurGirls” has swept social media, with users sharing doctored images of Nkurunziza in solidarity with the girls.
In a similar case in 2016, several schoolchildren were imprisoned and hundreds expelled for scribbling on images of the president’s face. — NNN-AGENCIES