Four Andijan refugees still being held

Four Uzbek refugees continue to languish in a pre-trial detention centre in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, more than six months after fleeing a violent government crackdown in the southern Uzbek city of Andijan. "Their status remains the same. They're still in detention," Vitaly Maslousky, acting country representative for the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), confirmed from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on Thursday. Although the men's claims were being processed by the country's judiciary, due to a change in the authorities that normally oversee such cases, coupled with the creation of a new government agency - the state Committee for Migration and Employment - the men were still awaiting a court decision to determine their fate. "Now all court cases are on hold pending the new agency's formal establishment. Then the court cases will continue," Maslousky said. This is despite the fact that in October UNHCR officially recognised the four men as UNHCR-mandated refugees and has officially notified the Kyrgyz government accordingly. "An official letter has been sent to the government, but we have yet to receive confirmation of its receipt," the UNHCR official clarified. More than 500 Uzbeks fled to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan after troops quelled anti-government demonstrations in Andijan on 13 May, killing upwards of 1,000 unarmed civilians, according to some rights groups. The Uzbek government claims the death toll was 187 and has repeatedly rejected international calls for an independent international investigation. Originally classified as asylum seekers, almost 440 of the registered Uzbeks staying in Kyrgyzstan who were granted refugee status by UNHCR were airlifted to Romania for third-country resettlement in late July, while another 15 remained in custody, pending an extradition request by Tashkent. Eleven of them were later granted UNHCR-mandated refugee status and subsequently flown to London on 16 September. Despite strong initial international media interest in the case, coupled with calls by the United States, the European Union, UN and others for their release, interest in the plight of the remaining four has largely diminished, while Tashkent continues to press for their immediate extradition. "Legally we see a lot of reluctance by the government in granting them refugee status because these four have been accused by the Uzbek authorities of having a serious role in the Andijan events." He added that one of the four had a previous conviction for a crime, adding to official reluctance to grant refugee status. "But for us, the danger in Uzbekistan outweighs any acts by these persons because we have not received any evidence that they were personally involved," Masalousky noted, adding the impact of bilateral relations between the two countries could not be discounted. "For Kyrgyzstan, there are also their bilateral relations which need to be considered which is why their decision is more prone to political pressure," he said.