Kyrgyzstan charges rights advocate with incitement

[June 19, 2010]  BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan say they have charged a human rights activist with inciting ethnic hatred for accusing the military of complicity in deadly violence that rocked the south.

Azimzhan Askarov, head of the "Air" rights group, was detained Tuesday in his hometown near the southern city of Jalal-Abad, colleagues and a rights ombudsman told The Associated Press.

Prosecutors announced Saturday they had charged Askarov, but the rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akun insisted the charges were fabricated.

Activists in Bishkek demonstrated to demand the release of Askarov, who filmed some of the violence that the Central Asian nation's leader says has killed up to 2,000 people.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- A top U.S. envoy has arrived in Kyrgyzstan to meet officials a day after the interim leader said up to 2,000 people may have died in the ethnic clashes that have rocked the country's south.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake is holding meetings with Interim President Roza Otunbayeva and other members of her government, which was established after a bloody uprising in April toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Blake arrived from neighboring Uzbekistan, where he toured several refugee camps set up for tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks who fled for their lives during rampages led mainly by ethnic Kyrgyz.

Blake said the U.S. was working with the Kyrgyz government to make the refugees would be able to return safely and called for an investigation into the violence.

[Associated Press]

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