Azerbaijani rights defender Vidadi Iskenderov faces threat of 3-5.5 years of imprisonment

Vidadi Iskenderov, the head of the NGO "Promotion for the Defence of Democracy", faces a threat of 3-5.5 years of imprisonment. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Khalid Bagirov, the lawyer of the human rights activist.

At present, the trial on the case against Iskenderov is being held in the Goychay District Court (the city of Goychay is located 230 km west of Baku). The human rights activist is accused under Articles "Forcing a citizen to vote against his will and hampering his voting" and "Interference in the work of election committees" of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. In particular, Iskenderov was incriminated of interference in the process of voting in the parliamentary elections held on November 7, 2010.

According to Khalid Bagirov, if his client is found guilty, the specific sentence will be determined by the judge. The lawyer explained that in case of summation of the utmost sentences on three Articles Iskenderov faces a threat of maximum sentence of 5.5 years of imprisonment. In the case of application of the cumulative sentence, when less severe sentence will be absorbed by the more severe one, the defendant will faces a threat of 3 years of imprison.

Earlier, Iskenderov himself also claimed a political nature of his case and unbearable conditions at detention facility.

The Goychay District Court denied commenting on the trial on the case against Iskenderov.