Uzbekistan Denies Detaining Andijon Refugees

Uzbek soldiers on the streets of Andijon a day after the bloodshed (epa) PRAGUE, August 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Uzbekistan has again denied that it is holding two Uzbeks who fled to Kyrgyzstan in its prison in Andijon.

Valijon Bobojonov and Saidullo Shokirov disappeared from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh last week and Kyrgyz human rights activists believe the two are being detained in Andijon.

The two men left Uzbekistan after a crackdown by the Uzbek government in May 2005. Uzbek officials say 187 people died in the violence.

Faces And Voices

WE WERE THERE: RFE/RL correspondent Gulnoza Saidazimova visited a group Andijon refugees in the Czech town of Straz pod Ralskem and spoke to them about their recollections of the May 2005 violence and their lives since. (Photographs by G. Saidazimova)

ZUHRA, aged 33: "On 13 May, I learned what APCs [armoured personnel carriers] and kalashnikovs were."

MOMINA, aged 29: "I called my parents twice from here. The second time they said: 'We are scared to talk to you. Our neighbor also received a phone call [from a relative who was granted asylum abroad]. Then the police came and beat him up.'"

ODINA, aged 34: "I saw a woman with bullet wound in the back. From behind, we could see her hearting. It was beating. She was begging: 'Call the doctor. I don't want to die.' Later, in Kyrgyzstan, we heard she had died. "

THE COMPLETE STORY: A dedicated webpage bringing together all of RFE/RL's coverage of the events in Andijon, Uzbekistan, in May 2005 and their continuing repercussions.

CHRONOLOGY

For an annotated timeline of the Andijon events and their repercussions, click here.