In Southern Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks Become Targets of Police Abuse
MOSCOW - The police in Kyrgyzstan’s volatile southern region have been pursuing their investigation into the recent ethnic clashes that left hundreds of ethnic Uzbeks dead by rounding up more Uzbeks and subjecting them to beatings and other abuses.
The abuses raise further questions about the ability of Kyrgyzstan’s weak central authorities to control the tumultuous south of the country, where sympathies remain strong for the former president who was ousted in April, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev.
Reported by Human Rights Watch and acknowledged by the current government, the abuses come at a time when the new leadership is already riven by infighting ahead of parliamentary elections in October. With several top ministers having resigned, citing the need to prepare for the vote, the interim president, Roza Otunbayeva, announced Wednesday that she was forming a new caretaker government.
The police actions could further inflame hostilities and possibly provoke new clashes, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a statement.
“They detain one or two people every day,” Anna Neistat, a researcher for the group, said of the moves by the local police against ethnic Uzbeks. “They have been doing this over the last two weeks. And the vast majority of these people seem to be subjected to ill treatment and torture in detention.”
____________
The New York Times has the entire article.
The abuses raise further questions about the ability of Kyrgyzstan’s weak central authorities to control the tumultuous south of the country, where sympathies remain strong for the former president who was ousted in April, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev.
Reported by Human Rights Watch and acknowledged by the current government, the abuses come at a time when the new leadership is already riven by infighting ahead of parliamentary elections in October. With several top ministers having resigned, citing the need to prepare for the vote, the interim president, Roza Otunbayeva, announced Wednesday that she was forming a new caretaker government.
The police actions could further inflame hostilities and possibly provoke new clashes, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a statement.
“They detain one or two people every day,” Anna Neistat, a researcher for the group, said of the moves by the local police against ethnic Uzbeks. “They have been doing this over the last two weeks. And the vast majority of these people seem to be subjected to ill treatment and torture in detention.”
____________
The New York Times has the entire article.