[JURIST] A Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry official announced Monday that Kyrgyzstan will not return refugees who fled Uzbekistan after an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan [JURIST report] in May. Zafar Hakimov, director of the Foreign Ministry's migration service department, said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [official website] has granted asylum status [JURIST report] to 439 of the 455 refugees. The remaining 15, who are considered criminals by Uzbekistan, are being detained in Kyrgyzstan. Four have been denied asylum status because they have been charged with the murder of Andijan's prosecutor general and are awaiting trial. Deputy director of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry's consular department, Sergei Ivanchenko, called for the return of the 15 detainees saying, "They are criminals... according to international law, we are waiting for Kyrgyzstan to return them." RIA Novosti has more.