Burundi
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason,...
- News items in the archive
- 71
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Burundi is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 71 news items on Burundi, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 13, 2005BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Burundi's chief prosecutor asked a court to sentence four ex-senior...
Burundi's chief prosecutor asked a court to sentence four ex-senior secret service and police to death for their alleged roles in the 2001 assassination of Kassi Manlan, the country representative of the World Health Organization (WHO).
- JANUARY 1, 2005BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Crimes punishable by death are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
Crimes punishable by death are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- APRIL 11, 2004BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Crimes punishable by death are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
Crimes punishable by death are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- MARCH 1, 2004BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International declared itself very concerned...
Amnesty International declared itself very concerned at the prospect of renewed judicial executions in Burundi
- APRIL 16, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
The Criminal Court of Appeal in Bujumbura, Burundi,...
The Criminal Court of Appeal in Bujumbura, Burundi, condemned to death the assassin of the former Burundi chief of general staff under the First Republic, Maj-Gen Thomas Ndabemeye
- MARCH 2, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Four civilians were killed by Burundi government soldiers...
Four civilians were killed by Burundi government soldiers just outside the capital, Bujumbura, witnesses said
- FEBRUARY 10, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International appealed to African Union observers...
Amnesty International appealed to African Union observers due to visit Burundi, to take note of human rights abuses by the government or rebel movements, especially the killings of unarmed civilians
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason,...
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
62 executions were carried out in 1999
62 executions were carried out in 1999
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt...
Premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Like its neighbour Rwanda, Burundi has long been torn...
Like its neighbour Rwanda, Burundi has long been torn apart by ethnic conflict which has seen hundreds of thousands killed in sporadic massacres
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
A three-year transitional government was set up in...
A three-year transitional government was set up in November 2001 as part of efforts to end the civil war that broke-out in 1993
- JANUARY 1, 2003BurundiDEATH PENALTY
In April 2003 Burundi's transitional national parliament...
In April 2003 Burundi's transitional national parliament voted unanimously to recognise the statute of the International Criminal Court, the United Nation's permanent war crimes court
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan,...
Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, declared in a press release in Bujumbura that the Government of Burundi must lift the blanket of impunity and take effective action to end the escalating pattern of killings of civilians by the armed
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International published a new report "Poverty,...
Amnesty International published a new report "Poverty, isolation and ill-treatment
- JULY 22, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
A five-day seminar on national and international law...
A five-day seminar on national and international law opened in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, a country traumatised by years of inter-ethnic conflict
- JUNE 21, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
A criminal court in Gitega, 70 kilometers east of the...
A criminal court in Gitega, 70 kilometers east of the Burundi capital of Bujumbura, sentenced to death 11 people with 16 others to life imprisonment for their participating in massacres some ten years ago
- JUNE 18, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
The criminal court in Ngozi (northern Burundi) has...
The criminal court in Ngozi (northern Burundi) has tried several cases in its current session
- MAY 19, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Residents of Muramba zone in Bubanza Province [northwestern...
Residents of Muramba zone in Bubanza Province [northwestern Burundi] on the night of 18 into 19 May arrested and executed two armed bandits of Palipehutu-FNL [National Liberation Forces]
- APRIL 25, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Burundi voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the...
Burundi voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- JANUARY 1, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason,...
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- JANUARY 1, 2002BurundiDEATH PENALTY
There were no executions in 2001
There were no executions in 2001
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International said that between November 2...
Amnesty International said that between November 2 and 4, government troops in Burundi massacred at least 93 civilians in Bujumbura Rural province, apparently in response to a rebel attack on an army vehicle the day before
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
The Ngozi criminal court, sitting in Muyinga [northeastern...
The Ngozi criminal court, sitting in Muyinga [northeastern Burundi] sentenced to death Methode Nivyumwami, the former administrator of Gasorwe [northeastern Burundi]
- JUNE 13, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that criminal courts across Burundi,...
It was reported that criminal courts across Burundi, notably in the towns of Bujumbura, Gitega and Ngozi sentenced a total of 20 people to death in the month of May alone, for manslaughter
- MAY 16, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
About 20 people were handed sentences ranging from...
About 20 people were handed sentences ranging from 15 years' imprisonment to capital punishment from the Ngozi criminal court (northern Burundi) for "involvement in massacres" in northern Burundi after the assassination of the first democratically-elected
- APRIL 25, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Burundi voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Burundi voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001 (2001/68)
- JANUARY 1, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
There were no executions in 2001
There were no executions in 2001
- JANUARY 1, 2001BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason,...
Capital crimes are: premeditated murder, sorcery, treason, spying, attempt on the Chief of State's life and cannibalism
- OCTOBER 19, 2000BurundiDEATH PENALTY
Two Burundi army soldiers, Sgt
Two Burundi army soldiers, Sgt