The UN has evacuated a group of 11 Uzbek refugees from the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. The 11 fled to Kyrgyzstan after what eyewitnesses and human rights groups say was a massacre of civilians in the Uzbek town of Andijan in May The Uzbek government says the events in Andijan were an attempt to overthrow the government. It has accused the UN of violating the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees by evacuating the 11 unilaterally. The group of Uzbek refugees was flown from Kyrgyzstan to London on an early morning flight. From there they will be moved on to third countries for permanent settlement. The 11 were among a group of 15 men who had been held in detention for several weeks while the Kyrgyz government decided whether to honour an Uzbek request to extradite them to face trial in Uzbekistan. The UN still has to decide whether to give refugee status to the remaining four men. The main group of more than 400 refugees from Andijan were flown to temporary asylum in Romania in July. On Thursday, the deputy state prosecutor in Tashkent said that many of the refugees who escaped to Kyrgyzstan had taken part in the uprising. He described them as robbers, violators, rapists and recidivists. And he accused the UN refugee organisation of violating the 1951 Geneva Convention, in evacuating them unilaterally. The trial of the first 15 people the Uzbek government accuses of being the main organisers of the Andijan disturbances is due to start next Tuesday. State media has been repeatedly accusing the BBC and other international media of distorting events in Andijan. The deputy prosecutor said that journalists had gathered like hyenas and jackals, waiting to spread lies about Uzbekistan to please their masters. (BBC)