III. MethodologyResearch for this report was based on interviews conducted in July 2007 and March 2008 with Uzbek refugees and asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan. Two interviews were conducted in countries we cannot name, for the interviewees’ safety. The interviewees fled Andijan throughout 2007 and in the first months of 2008. Some of the interviewees were first-time refugees, while others left Uzbekistan for the second time—they had initially fled Andijan after the May 2005 massacre and then returned to Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch interviewed 27 persons who fled Andijan in 2007 and 2008: 14 men and 13 women, between the ages of 19 and approximately 60. In addition, Human Rights Watch interviewed eight refugees from other regions of Uzbekistan, among them journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders who had worked on Andijan or had information regarding the situation or treatment of Andijan refugees. Wherever possible, interviews were conducted one-on-one with Human Rights Watch researchers. Some interviews were conducted in Russian by Human Rights Watch researchers who are native speakers of Russian or are fluent in Russian; others were conducted in Uzbek and translated into Russian. The names of the persons interviewed for this report have been changed and the exact dates of their arrival in Kyrgyzstan withheld to protect their security and the security of their relatives.1 1 The interviewees have been assigned a pseudonym consisting of a randomly chosen first name and a last initial that is the same as the first letter of the first name, for example, “Umar U.” There is no continuity of pseudonyms with other Human Rights Watch reports on Uzbekistan; hence an “Umar U.” cited in the present report is not the same person as “Umar U.” cited in any previous Human Rights Watch report.
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