UZBEKISTAN: Trial of Andijan accused to start in September

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

TASHKENT, 1 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - The trials of people involved in the 13 May unrest in the eastern city of Andijan later this month, in which up to 1,000 people were killed according to rights groups, are set to begin later this month. Tashkent puts the number of dead at 187, blaming Islamic militants for the violence.

President Islam Karimov, speaking on Wednesday on the eve of the Central Asian nation’s independence day, told local reporters that the trial would enable the truth of what happened in Andijan to come out.

“The trial will, of course, be held in mid-September, on 20 September. All the truth will be expressed there,” Karimov was quoted as saying by Uzbek radio. He called on the Uzbek people to be vigilant and unite against foreign “evil forces” that wanted to appropriate the country’s mineral resources.

No details were given of how many people will go on trial or exactly what the defendants are charged with. Uzbek security forces have made hundreds arrests in the city following the violence, human rights groups have said.

Uzbek troops opened fire indiscriminately on a huge anti-government demonstration in Andijan, according to witnesses and human rights groups. Hundreds of survivors fled to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan following the killings. The United States on Wednesday reiterated its call for an independent international enquiry into the violence that has been widely condemned.

But Tashkent has ignored repeated calls for an international probe and presented their own findings to "diplomats from India, Iran, China, Pakistan, Russia and neighbouring countries," who constituted a working group that had come to oversee the progress of the government’s investigation into the tragedy.

[ENDS]