Journalist Jean Claude Kavumbagu was detained by the Burundian authorites on treason charges on July 17.Thijs van Praag, director of Dutch development aid organisation PUM, says his health is fragile and this "prolonged detention can only be harmful to him''.

The 45-year old Kavumbagu is a volunteer local representative for PUM in Burundi. The journalist is also the founder and director of the Netpress website. His arrest followed the publication of an article called Will Burundi be the next target of Somali Shabaab?

"Treason"
The article questioned the Burundian security forces' ability to prevent attacks like the one committed by the Shabaab Islamist group in Uganda in July. This, in the eyes of the authorities, was treason. Burundi and Uganda have deployed troops with the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. The Shabaab had threatened both countries with reprisals for their support for the Somali government.

PUM's director told RNW he had been unable to contact the journalist by phone and that the Dutch Consulate had not been authorised to visit him. Kavumbagu's family however has been allowed to see him.

Life imprisonment
Several international organisations including Reporters without Borders and Human Rights Watch have campaigned for his release, but without success. On September 6, the High Court of Bujumbura extended Kabumbagu's pre-trial detention, without setting a date for a second hearing. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment.

One of Kavumbagu's lawyers, Gabriel Sinarinzi, told Reporters Without Borders that "what he is alleged to have done does not constitute an act of treason." Citing article 570 of the Burundian criminal code, he said that an act of treason can only be committed in wartime, "and Burundi is not at war".

Fifth arrest
Kavumbagu's criticisms of the current regime in Burundi have got him in trouble before - this is the fifth time that has been arrested. In 2008, he was accused of defaming the president. The charge was based on an article he wrote which claimed President Pierre Nkurunziza had spent 71,000 euros on his trip to attend the Chinese Olympics opening ceremony: twice the amount that had been budgeted by the government.

Outraged
Peter Moen, PUM's coordinator for Burundi says Jean-Claude Kavumbagu is ''a nervous man, and probably rightly so.'' Moen is outraged at his arrest. In his view, the journalists trial is purely a political one. Referring to the critical press in the Netherlands, he added: ''If all the Dutch journalists who speak out against the government were imprisoned, there would not be a single newspaper left in the country!''