Tajikistan sent an opposition politician, Sherik Karamukhdoyev, to jail for 14 years after convicting him on charges of organising riots, high court judges said Friday. He belongs to the Islamic Renaissance Party, the only opposition party with legislative representation in the authoritarian former Soviet republic.
The high court in Dushanbe ruled that Karamukhdoyev belonged to a "criminal group" that participated in armed clashes between rebels and the army in the mountainous country's roadless east last summer. At least 48 people were killed in days of fighting.