II. Methodology

This report is based on over 200 interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch in 13 of the 17 provinces of Burundi between May 2007 and April 2009.

Human Rights Watch spoke with dozens of victims of abuses and their family members. Some victims—mostly detained FNL members who had suffered ill-treatment—were encountered on visits to jails and prisons. Journalists, local administrative officials, and human rights observers from Burundian organizations and the UN put Human Rights Watch in contact with other victims and witnesses. Human Rights Watch researchers generally conducted private interviews with one person at a time, though some interviews in Nyamurenza, Nyabikere and Kayogoro communes were conducted with small groups of four to eight victims. Researchers conducted interviews in French or, with the help of an interpreter, in Kirundi or Kiswahili. No incentives were offered or provided to persons interviewed.

Human Rights Watch researchers spoke regularly with representatives of all main political parties and movements during the course of this research to follow human rights abuses and other acts of violence targeting political parties. Information provided by political party activists that is presented in the main text of the report was in almost all cases cross-checked with other sources, including officials from other political parties. Police and judicial officials provided further information on arrests of party activists and acts of political violence, as well as the status of investigations into these abuses.

A number of police officers, CNDD-FDD ex-combatants, and FNL members spoke to Human Rights Watch on the condition of anonymity, providing inside information on abuses committed by members of those groups.

Human Rights Watch also interviewed military and intelligence officials, African Union peacekeepers, representatives of local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), diplomats, and staff of the United Nations (UN).

This report is not a comprehensive account of human rights abuses during the period of research. UN human rights observers, Burundian human rights organizations, and journalists provided Human Rights Watch with reports of dozens of other human rights abuses, including killings, beatings, and arrests. For the purposes of this report, Human Rights Watch focused on incidents which appear to have been politically motivated. The report does not cover several reported cases in which police, soldiers, or SNR agents killed civilians due to conflicts of an apparently personal nature, although these too constituted human rights violations when the state took no action against perpetrators. Neither does the report cover a number of killings committed by FNL members, many of which were apparently carried out in the course of armed robberies.[1]

Among incidents that appeared to be politically motivated, we further focused our research based on the seriousness of the abuse and the likelihood that it would contribute to cycles of violence, as well as our ability to verify the facts based on multiple sources. A Human Rights Watch researcher carried out in-depth field research in Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rurale, Ngozi, and Karusi in order to document politically-motivated murders. Human Rights Watch met with detainees in Bujumbura, Cibitoke, Gitega, Makamba, and Ngozi who were victims of beatings, and in all cases either personally documented scars on their bodies or received collaborating information from BINUB or police officials.

We received reports of a number of other politically-motivated abuses that, while they did not rise to the level of murder, physical violence, or deprivation of liberty, were nonetheless cause for concern. For instance, political party activists (including members of CNDD-FDD) and FNL members frequently reported that they received threatening anonymous phone calls and text messages. Political parties also reported symbolic destruction of property, including the burning of party meeting houses, and the theft of party flags. Human Rights Watch was unable to document all such cases of threats and symbolic violence, although we recognize that such abuses should be treated seriously and investigated by police and judicial authorities, particularly given the history of escalation of political violence in Burundi. In one exception, we document the burning of CNDD-FDD meeting houses, due to both the extent of the phenomenon and the fact that it served as a pretext for further abuses.

For reasons of security, the names of interviewees are omitted from some citations and are replaced with pseudonyms. The pseudonyms used consist of initials that do not match the interviewee’s real name.