Watchdog

A court of appeals in Baku has released former Azerbaijani lawmaker Gular Ahmadova, who was sentenced to three years in jail for extortion via fraud and obstruction of justice.

The court replaced Ahmadova's three-year incarceration sentence with a suspended sentence on May 5. She left the courtroom a free woman.

Ahmadova was arrested in February 2013 after a video circulated on the Internet in September 2012 showing her demanding a $1.3 million bribe from an academician to secure a seat in parliament for him.

The video caused a public uproar.

Ahmadova said the video was edited to frame her. She was later sentenced to three years in prison.

Ahmadova refused to comment to journalists about her release on May 5.

The leader of the unregistered Youth Front political movement in Belarus has been sentenced to 25 days in jail for violating his parole.

Zmitser Dashkevich told RFE/RL in the courtroom after his sentence was pronounced on April 25 that his incarceration is most likely connected with the Youth Front's anticipated presence at a commemoration of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster on April 26 and during next month's Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk.

The Belarusian opposition has called for an international boycott of the tournament.

Dashkevich has been on parole since he was released from jail last August after serving more than 2 1/2 years for allegedly assaulting two people in December 2010. Dashkevich has called the case politically motivated.

His parole ends on April 28.

Dashkevich became the fifth opposition activist in Belarus to be incarcerated this week.