Kyrgyzstan Begins Trial on Alleged Muslim Rebels
In the last two years, armed forces in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Uzbekistan have fought off incursions by armed bands, which local officials say comprise Muslim extremists seeking to destabilize the remote region.
Tajik citizen Ravshan Sharipov and Ruslan Abdullin from Russia, both aged 20, face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of illegally crossing into Kyrgyzstan and serving in armed Islamic groups. They are being tried in a well-guarded military base in the southern Kyrgyz town of Osh.
"They are depressed...they are still just boys," a military court official told Reuters by telephone from Osh. He declined to give any further details.
Local officials had said earlier that the two men were captured during military operations in southern Kyrgyzstan last year. Local media, which have given extensive coverage to the case, have labelled the pair "mercenaries".
Boris Poluektov, deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service Secret Police, told Reuters the men faced "serious charges" punishable with up to 20 years in jail.
Poluektov said one of the suspects was accused of having been among Islamic radicals who took four U.S. mountain climbers hostage in Kyrgyzstan last year. The climbers have said they escaped after pushing one of their guards over a cliff.
Officials say the guerrillas penetrate Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan from neighboring Tajikistan after being trained in Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
Over 50 army servicemen and civilians were killed in armed attacks on southern Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000. Officials blame the attacks on the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, which seeks to establish a Muslim state in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Mostly Muslim Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have ordered a beefing up of national armed forces in fear of more incursions this year. Neighbor Kazakhstan has set up a military district and reinforced border posts on its southern flanks, to bar what it terms an influx of militant Islam.