KYRGYZSTAN: Groups Report No Justice after 2010 Osh Clashes
Kyrgyz authorities have failed to ensure justice for victims of last year's ethnic violence in the Central Asian nation, and that could cause a new wave of unrest, leading international human rights groups warned Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International released their reports ahead of the first anniversary of clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in the southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad. At least 470 people, nearly three-quarters of whom were ethnic Uzbeks, were killed and some 400,000 fled their homes.
The groups said that official investigations into violence and the ensuing trials mainly targeted the Uzbek minority, fomenting tensions that might trigger new violence in the future.
Although the exact circumstances surrounding the intercommunal riots that broke out on June 10, 2010, are the subject of heated disagreement in Kyrgyzstan, violence in subsequent days culminated with a series of pogroms against ethnic Uzbek neighborhoods. The Associated Press (8 June 2011)