Human Rights Watch: New Report Documents Uzbek Massacre

[Jack Rabbit]

Press release from Human Rights Watch
Dateline Moscow Tuesday June 7

Uzbekistan: New Report Documents Massacre

The killing of unarmed protesters by the Uzbek government in Andijan last month was so extensive and unjustified that it amounted to a massacre, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the most comprehensive investigation to date of the tragic events in eastern Uzbekistan.

The report, "Bullets Were Falling Like Rain": The Andijan Massacre May 13, 2005, is based on 50 interviews with victims of and witnesses to the May 13 killings. It details the Uzbek government's indiscriminate use of lethal force against unarmed people, describes government efforts to silence witnesses, and places the events against the background of Uzbekistan's worsening human rights record.

Although armed men were present in Bobur Square during the shootings, the Uzbek government's use of force against the crowd in the square was neither proportionate nor appropriate to the danger they posed, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Uzbek authorities are trying to whitewash this massacre," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Our investigation is a first step towards setting the record straight. But only a full-fledged international investigation, with access to official records, can give a true picture of the tragic events in Andijan."

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[dArKeR]

1. Uzbek crackdown a `massacre'

Uzbekistan's crackdown on a prison break and mass protest last month has been labeled a massacre in a report by a prominent human rights group, which says responsibility for much of the death lies with the Uzbek government.
The group, Human Rights Watch, based in New York, issued the report on Tuesday, providing the most extensive independent review to date of the failed uprising on May 13 in the Uzbek city of Andijon.

Drawing from interviews with more than 50 witnesses, it corroborates and expands upon previous reports of a brief armed revolt that became an anti-government protest, which the authorities broke with rifle and machine-gun fire.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/06/09/2003258557