The failure of Kyrgyzstan's government to prosecute those responsible for deadly ethnic riots last year heightens the risk of more outbursts, human rights groups said on Wednesday.
The failure of Kyrgyzstan's government to prosecute those responsible for deadly ethnic riots last year heightens the risk of more outbursts, human rights groups said on Wednesday.
Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim Central Asian nation of 5.3 million people, hosts US and Russian military air bases and lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan. Radical Islam, stoked by widespread poverty, has fuelled instability.
Last June, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks battled each other in and around the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad. More than 400 people were killed in the clashes, which lasted for four days.
"The failure to bring to justice those behind the violence could provide fertile soil for the seeds of future turmoil," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia programme director for Amnesty International.
"Ethnic bias and corruption are behind the pervading impunity," she said in a press release. "The rule of law must be upheld in order to rebuild the trust between the ethnic groups and prevent future bloodshed."
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said most victims of violence and most of those arrested were ethnic Uzbeks. Of 124 people detained on murder charges, 115 were Uzbek.
"The profoundly flawed investigations and trials, mainly affecting the ethnic Uzbek minority, undermine efforts to promote reconciliation and fuel tensions that might one day lead to renewed violence," it said.
Uzbeks made up three quarters of casualties and sustained 90 per cent of property losses, Amnesty said. But official figures show that, of the 271 people detained after the June violence, 230 were ethnic Uzbeks and only 29 Kyrgyz.
Asked to comment on the two reports, Farid Niyazov, adviser to Kyrgyzstan's prime minister, told Reuters: "Now is not the time for recriminations."
"Kyrgyzstan needs targeted assistance to develop its economy and raise the living standards of its citizens, but not fresh accusations that hamper the process of reconciliation."
HRW said: "There are strong indications that some military and police forces knowingly or unwittingly facilitated attacks on Uzbek neighbourhoods."
The statement echoed a report in May by an independent international commission which said Kyrgyz forces may have been complicit in the clashes which it said killed 470 people.
HRW said it had credible information about torture and ill-treatment in 65 cases. "There is strong evidence that at least one person died due to torture in detention."
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