[JURIST] The Uzbekistan interior ministry on Thursday denied allegations that they used illegal torture methods to extract confessions from the 15 men on trial for the political uprising in Andijan [HRW backgrounder], which led to government troops killing 500 [JURIST report]. The 15 men currently on trial [JURIST report] for attempting to build an Islamic state have all given long, detailed testimonies, implicating themselves and many others. A former interior ministry employee told the BBC that it was not uncommon for the government to beat, threaten, and use psychotropic drugs to extract confessions from people accused of political and religious crimes. The Uzbek interior ministry said in a statement that the men were treated according to law from the moment of their arrest. Human rights groups have made similar accusations about forced confessions in the past. BBC News has more.