UN shocked by Kyrgyz extraditions to Uzbekistan

BISHKEK, Aug 10 (Reuters) The United Nations' refugee agency said it was shocked by Kyrgyzstan's extradition of five Uzbeks, adding that the decision to hand the men over to Uzbek authorities had put their lives at ''grave risk''.

The five were removed from a remand prison in the southern city of Osh and driven to the nearby Uzbek border yesterday, according to a Kyrgyz prison official and a lawyer for the men.

The men were the last among hundreds of refugees who fled the Uzbek town of Andizhan in May 2005 when witnesses said they saw troops kill hundreds of men, women and children. Uzbekistan wants them back, saying it has evidence that they are criminals.

''This ... is an extremely serious violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention - which Kyrgyzstan has ratified - under which no refugees should be forcibly returned to their country of origin,'' UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement on the UNHCR Web site late yesterday.

Four of the five were granted refugee status by the United Nations and the fifth was an asylum seeker.

''This grave breach is a huge disappointment as the deportees' lives may be at stake,'' Guterres said. ''Kyrgyzstan has failed to protect these refugees.'' The Finnish European Union presidency expressed deep regret.

''The Presidency of the European Union urges the Uzbek authorities to fully respect all human rights of the extradited refugees and the asylum seeker,'' it said in Brussels.

The Kyrgyz government has not commented on the extradition, which came on the eve of a visit today to the Central Asian state by the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher.

The United States maintains a military airbase in Kyrgyzstan.

Boucher, after meeting Foreign Minister Alikbek Dzhekshenkulov, struck a measured note.

''Certainly we want Kyrgyzstan to stand by its international obligations but we're still looking into the matter to determine the facts,'' he said today, without elaborating.

Human rights activists also condemned the extradition, which some said appeared to show Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was seeking warmer ties with Uzbek leader Islam Karimov.

''These men are victims, a gift from our government to Islam Karimov,'' Aziza Rasulova, deputy chairwoman of independent-minded Presidential Commission on Human Rights.

New York-based Human Rights Watch also criticised the move, saying the men were likely to face torture and execution.

Eyewitnesses in Andizhan in May 2005 said troops killed hundreds when they fired on a large crowd of people who had gathered in the centre of town after armed men broke 23 businessmen out of jail and seized a local government building.

Uzbekistan denies its troops killed civilians. It says 187 people died when security forces moved against ''terrorists'' whose aim was to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic caliphate.

REUTERS SRS PM1946