Three schoolgirls were sent to prison in Burundi for doodling on a picture of President Pierre Nkurunziza in textbooks last week. The girls, aged 15, 16 and 17, face up to five years in prison for insulting the head of state if found guilty. The trio are awaiting trial in prison.
Initially, seven schoolchildren were arrested and brought before the public prosecutor in Kirundo province. A 13-year-old was released as she was below the age of criminal responsibility. The rest were taken to the local police station were three more were released. The rest three, all below the age of 18, remained in jail over the weekend. They were charged with insulting the head of state on Monday.
According to reports, judges said the three girls should be "prosecuted for contempt of the head of state", and ordered them to a juvenile section of a prison in the north of Burundi at Ngozi to await trial.
This is not the first time that schoolchildren have faced the wrath of thin-skinned authorities in Burundi. Several children were arrested in 2016 for drawing and writing phrases like 'get out' or 'no third term' on a picture of Nkurunziza. Hundreds of children were expelled from schools for doodling on the president's face in textbooks in the same year.
Burundi has been facing political and human rights crisis after President Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term. People have been killed, beaten, raped, intimidated and arrested by the security services since the announcement.
