BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- Two Tajik men have been released from Kyrgyz custody after being held on charges of robbery and crossing the border illegally amid an ongoing border dispute, according to the men's relatives.
Kyrgyz and Tajik officials have yet to officially confirm the release of Amonjon Bobojonov and Ayubjon Urunov.
Their families told RFE/RL on July 18 that the two men were released last week.
The two men, along with another Tajik man, Akmaljon Isoev, were sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison each last year over their participation in exchanges of gunfire along a disputed segment of the border in the spring of 2021 that left 36 Kyrgyz and 19 Tajik citizens dead. Isoev, who was also found guilty of vandalism, remains in prison.
The reported release of the two Tajiks comes nearly three months after the chief prosecutors of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agreed on the exchange of citizens detained for illegal border crossing.
Earlier in July, two Kyrgyz citizens told RFE/RL that they, along with nine other Kyrgyz men, were released from Tajik custody after spending months in prisons and detention centers there.
Officials in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have not yet commented on the reported release of the 11 Kyrgyz men.
On June 3, a court in the Batken region released 11 Tajik citizens who had been held in Kyrgyzstan on the same charges.
SEE ALSO: Eleven Kyrgyz Nationals Held On Border-Crossing Charges Said Released From Tajik CustodyMany border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, which leads to frequent clashes and shootings that sometimes turn deadly.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.
Almost half of the 970-kilometer Kyrgyz-Tajik border has yet to be demarcated, leading to repeated tensions since the two countries gained independence three decades ago.