Bob Rugurika has been a Burundian Investigative journalist and human rights defender since 2004. He moved to RPA’s investigative unit in 2007, became chief editor three years later and was in 2014 promoted to his current post, as director. RPA is one of Burundi’s few remaining independent voices in the media.
Having become a journalist just before President Pierre Nkurunziza’s 15 year-rule (that ended in 2020), Rugurika has endured media repression throughout his career. Nkurunziza’s unconstitutional bid to run for a third term shook Burundi’s fragile peace, sparked widespread protests and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homeland.
Over the years, Rugurika, who also works closely with human rights defenders, has covered a range of topics including political killings, extra-judicial killings, assassinations, a massacre of 40 civilians, illegal weapon trade, economic embezzlement, and major corruption cases involving government officials. His work set him on a collision course with the authorities. In 2011 alone, he was summoned 11 times by the Prosecutor for his journalism. Imprisonment and death threats followed. In January 2015, Rugurika was held in prison after he interviewed a former government soldier who was in hiding. He was released in February 2015. On 29 March (2015) three armed men were sent to kill him at home. Fortunately, they went to look for him in a neighbor’s home.
In 2016, Rugurika scooped the prestigious CNN Multichoice Press Freedom Award for his Press Freedom struggle. Now in exile, Rugurika continues his journalism with RPA. The station, whose listenership includes Burundians inside the country and hundreds of thousands in exile, broadcasts in Kirundi and French via social media, shortwave, and other technological platforms.
Through these means, RPA, staffed by exiled journalists, continues to inform Burundians and the world about the developments in Burundi.