Kyrgyzstan to deport Andijan refugees to Uzbekistan News
Kyrgyzstan to deport Andijan refugees to Uzbekistan

[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan Prosecutor General Azimbek Beknazarov has announced that his government will deport 13 of 29 detained Uzbek refugees accused of participating in a May uprising in in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan [BBC report], rejecting claims the refugees would face torture in Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan is also considering a request to extradite 231 additional refugees currently living in a refugee camp. Kyrgyzstan had previously promised not to extradite the refugees [JURIST report]. Human rights groups had urged the government [HRW press release] not to send the refugees back, and the UN has warned that the expulsions could violate the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention [text]. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.