The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office has charged prominent Uzbek diaspora leaders in southern Kyrgyzstan with instigating deadly interethnic clashes in May and June.

Charges of separatism, instigating ethnic hatred and organizing mass riots have been laid against the president of the Uzbek national cultural center, Kadyrzhan Batyrov, vice president Ulugbek Abdusalamov and others.

"The criminal case was sent to the Jalalabad City Court," a Prosecutor General's Office spokesman told RIA Novosti.

Abdusalamov, who was also editor-in-chief of a local Uzbek-language newspaper is accused of publishing materials "aimed at raising nationalist sentiments in the Uzbek diaspora." He is also accused of instigating "ethnic hatred between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, which resulted in mass interethnic clashes and riots in the south of the republic in June."

His boss Batyrov was charged in absentia of conducting unsanctioned rallies on May 12-16, where he "publicly called for violent seizure of top posts in government and law-enforcement bodies."

In mid-June, the country saw its worst interethnic clashes in two decades that killed some 2,000 people, according to unofficial reports. About 100,000 people fled to neighboring Uzbekistan and hundreds of houses were destroyed in the riot-hit Osh and Jalalabad regions.

A month earlier, clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in the southern city of Jalalabad resulted in temporary seizure of government buildings in three southern provinces of Kyrgyzstan. At least two people and dozens were injured during the unrest.

BISHKEK, September 1 (RIA Novosti)