VOA Uzbek Service quoted Vadim Makeyev of the office of the UN Supreme Commissariat for Refugees in Osh as saying that five refugees from Andijan were turned over by the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office to the Uzbek authorities after all. The refugees had been in the Osh detention cell prior to the extradition.

"What information we possess at this point indicates that the refugees were turned over to Uzbekistan at between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.," Makeyev said. "It happened right after the visit of Osh Governor Jantoro Satybaldiyev to the detention cell. We were told of these latest developments only afterwards."

Following the tragic events in Andijan on May 13, 2005, literally hundreds found shelter in Kyrgyzstan and were eventually moved to other countries. Four refugees (Jahongir Maksudov, Rasul Pirmatov, Odiljon Rahimov, and Yakub Tashbayev) remained in Osh, accused by the Uzbek authorities of organization of the massacre in Andijan and assassination of prosecutor of Andijan. The fifth refugee by name of Fajez Tojihalilov was arrested by the Osh police in an operation against illegal immigrants last year.

The Kyrgyz authorities denied the refugees - in Osh detention cell for over a year then - the official status of refugees. The human rights community maintained that only torture awaited the refugees on their return to Uzbekistan.

Tursunbek Akun, Chairman of the Kyrgyz Presidential Commission for Human Rights, called extradition of the refugees a crying shame.

"We addressed the Prosecutor General's Office and said that the refugees shouldn't be extradited to the Uzbek authorities because it will be a violation of the international conventions Kyrgyzstan is a signatory of. The Prosecutor General's Office with its lack of respect for international standards disgraced Kyrgyzstan in the eyes of the international community. Prosecutor General Kambaraly Kongantiyev is out to do Uzbekistan a favor in the hope that it will be appreciated," Akun said.

According to Makeyev, neither the UN nor refugees' lawyers were informed of the forthcoming extradition.

"We were alerted to it only when the men were already in Uzbekistan," Makeyev said.

Detention cell chief warden Samuddin Satarov confirmed detainees' extradition to Uzbekistan in a conversation with Reuters.

"Yes, they have been extradited," Satarov said.

The refugees were handed over to the Uzbek authorities at Dustlik, the crossing point between the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan and Andijan region of Uzbekistan.