Tag Archives: Burundi

20 Year Old Rapper Arbitrarily Arrested In Burundi

Olegue Baraka. Image retrieved from the artist’s Twitter page.

Up and coming rapper from Burundi, Olegue Baraka, has been arrested after publishing a video promoting an upcoming concert of his. The charges are “public contempt of good morals”.

The video depicts Olegue dressed as a Catholic prelate and a young woman dressed as a nun, shaking her behind, as one does when having fun.

This did not sit well with the Catholic organisation in the country, of which the President is a devout member.

Burundi is a landlocked, extremely poor country in East Africa and it’s not exactly famous for nurturing free speech. But whether it is in poor Burundi or wealthy Spain, rappers face the same hardships: say the ‘wrong thing’, upset the crown or cross and you get arrested.