By empty (7/8/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov told a news conference in Bishkek on 7 July that Kyrgyz authorities have received requests from Uzbek authorities to extradite 231 Uzbek asylum seekers, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported. While noting that Kyrgyzstan intends to honor its international obligations, Beknazarov stressed that Kyrgyzstan will check the information it has received from Uzbekistan. He said that 29 Uzbek citizens \"are at a detention center in Osh.
Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov told a news conference in Bishkek on 7 July that Kyrgyz authorities have received requests from Uzbek authorities to extradite 231 Uzbek asylum seekers, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported. While noting that Kyrgyzstan intends to honor its international obligations, Beknazarov stressed that Kyrgyzstan will check the information it has received from Uzbekistan. He said that 29 Uzbek citizens \"are at a detention center in Osh. According to the information from the Uzbek side, they are accused of having committed serious crimes. On 13 May 2005, 14 of them escaped from the prison in Andijon. There is also information [according to Uzbek authorities] that they were not only members of the banned religious extremist group Akramiya but that they had also murdered policemen, attacked government buildings, and carried out terrorist acts on Uzbek territory.\" Beknazarov noted that 426 Uzbek asylum seekers are at a refugee camp in Kyrgyzstan. Rights organizations, other governments, and the United Nations have repeatedly asked Kyrgyz authorities to refrain from handing over any asylum seekers to Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL)