Burundi Comedian Arrested For Cracking Joke On President

A popular Burundi comedian known as “Kigingi” was arrested this week after poking fun at the president, his family said Friday.Humorist and Buja FM radio host Alfred Aubin Mugenzi was

arrested on Tuesday evening by Burundi’s National Intelligence Service (known by its French acronym, SNR) and charged with insulting President Pierre Nkurunziza.“He was transferred to
Bujumbura and is being held in the SNR dungeons, but no one has been allowed to see him”, said a concerned relative, who did not want to be named for fear of repercussions.The relative said Mugenzi’s family fears the funny man may suffer the same fate as others taken by the SNR, who rights groups say are commonly tortured or simply disappeared. Many hare reported to have died in jail.SNR officers told the relative that Mugenzi was arrested “for contempt of the head of state” after a skit he performed in neighbouring Rwanda last year, in which he lampooned football-mad third-term Nkurunziza, showing him refusing to leave the pitch despite receiving two yellow cards.
An intelligence official confirmed Mugenzi’s arrest saying the comic routine was “insulting the president”.