The Uzbek authorities slammed Human Rights Watch for...

The Uzbek authorities slammed Human Rights Watch for what they called a "groundless" allegation that an Uzbek prisoner, Andrey Shelkavenko, had been tortured to death by police. The Justice Ministry's press centre issued a statement following a meeting of the interdepartmental working group to study how the law-enforcement bodies were observing human rights in the country. The statement said that Human Rights Watch officials had been warned at the Justice Ministry that their claims were "unacceptable".