Azeri court jails opposition figure for three years

A court in Azerbaijan on Friday sentenced a prominent opposition activist to three years in jail for reckless driving in a trial his supporters says was politically motivated.Gurban Mammadov, a leading lawyer and founding member of the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces coalition, was jailed over a car crash last year in which he allegedly seriously injured a parking attendant and then later attempted to bribe the victim.Lawyers for Mammadov insisted that a second car was to blame for the accident and that authorities used the case to punish him for opposing the government of strongman President Ilham Aliyev."10 months after the incident, the case was suddenly reactivated. This was due to Mammadov's political activities," lawyer Anar Gasymov told AFP.Mammadov is the latest opposition figure to be jailed in what rights groups have decried as a continuing crackdown by Azerbaijan's government on its critics in the wake of Aliyev's re-election at polls in October.Aliyev secured a third term with some 85 percent of the vote at October 9 polls slammed as flawed by OSCE observers.

Any sign of dissent usually meets a harsh reaction in the oil-rich nation and rights groups accused the authorities of jailing scores of opponents in the run-up to the vote.

ANN.Az