Rights Groups Call On Kyrgyzstan Not To Return Uzbeks

Defendant in a trial brought by the Uzbek state against participants in the demonstrations in Andijon in May 2005 (file photo) (RFE/RL) 12 January 2006 -- Two prominent international rights groups have called on Kyrgyzstan not to return four refugees to Uzbekistan.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that detainees are routinely tortured in Uzbekistan. Holly Cartner, the director of the Europe and Central Asia of Human Rights Watch, said she believed the four refugees would be treated the same way.

Tashkent has pledged not to torture the four if they are returned to Uzbekistan, and to provide international organizations with access to them.

In London, Amnesty International said on 11 January that such assurances are not enough.

The four fled to Kyrgyzstan after violence in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon in May 2005. They have received formal refugee status from the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.

(AP)