BISHKEK. Nov 12 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva has confirmed the absence of discrimination against ethnic Uzbeks living in the republic.
"There is no discrimination against the Uzbek-speaking community during trials under way in the south of the country," Otunbayeva said at a meeting with judges on Friday.
Claims by foreign media companies and analysts that only ethnic Uzbeks are prosecuted are incorrect, she said.
"Thirty Uzbeks and 22 Kyrgyz were brought to justice as part of investigations in the Jalal-Abad region, and 100 Uzbeks and nine Kyrgyz in the Osh region. But I would like to say that any discrimination is out of the question," the president said.
Twenty-seven criminal cases were opened and 113 people were accused of being involved in the violent ethnic clashes in the Jalal-Abad region in southern Kyrgyzstan in June, Otunbayeva said.
Verdicts have already been handed down in 12 cases, she said.
Eighty criminal cases were opened against 143 people in the Osh region. Guilty verdicts were handed down in 48 cases and not-guilty verdicts in two cases.
"Both domestic and foreign media companies and nongovernmental organizations are closely following the court proceedings under way in the south of the country," Otunbayeva said.
Judges and lawyers involved in these trials have repeatedly been attacked, the president said.
"We are now doing everything we can to protect them," she said.
More than 400 people were killed as a result of the riots in the south of Kyrgyzstan in June.