BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (BNO NEWS) – Over 850 criminal cases were initiated by the interdepartmental investigative and operational group and Military prosecutor of Osh garrison regarding the violent events that took place in the town of Osh in Kyrgyzstan, a local news agency reported on Thursday.

The military prosecutor along other agencies filed 125 criminal cases on facts of murder and mass riots; 7 for killing law enforcement officials; 5 on facts of rapes and causing injuries; and 16 of kidnapping.

Until June 30, 230 bodies were found in the Osh region. From this amount, 146 corpses have been identified. In 141 of the cases the deaths were caused by gun shots while in the remaining 89 were killed due to injuries and burns.

In June, tensions between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz resulted in deadly ethnic clashes in Osh and Jalal-Abad. The United Nations, the European Union and other international agencies have sent help to the more than 270,000 refugees who fled from the country.

The United States strongly called on Kyrgyzstan officials to investigate who orchestrated the attacks on ethnic Uzbeks and have them brought to justice.

As part of the investigation, 800 people have been acknowledged as complainants and 400 citizens have been questioned as witnesses. 77 people were detained on suspicion of commission of crime and 72 of them were put in prison.

In the aftermath of the deadly clashes thousands of citizens have fled the nation as others were displaced after losing their homes. Over a thousand Chinese national living in Kyrgysztan were evacuated by the Chinese government on June 18.

Last week the UN secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the $71 million emergency appeal for humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan, in order to help the 400,000 people which have been displaced due to the political-ethnic violence.

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