Baku: A court in Azerbaijan on Monday sentenced an opposition activist to six years in prison on drug charges which he denounced as politically motivated.
A member of the Popular Front opposition party`s youth wing, Elvin Abdullazade said in the courtroom that charges against him were falsified and his jailing was aimed at silencing dissenters in the tightly-controlled ex-Soviet nation.
"The goal of my arrest is to intimidate the youth," the student said.
The verdict came after a months-long investigation marked by numerous violations, his lawyer Ali Mekhtiyev told AFP.
"The verdict against Elvin Abdullazade is unfair and unjustified," he said.
Abdullazade, a student, was arrested in January for alleged possession of three grams of heroin. He said the drugs had been planted by police.
Azerbaijan, an oil-rich republic, is known for its heavy-handed treatment of dissenters.
Rights groups accuse the government of using spurious charges to jail its critics and say the authorities have stepped up their campaign to stifle opposition since President Ilham Aliyev`s election to a third term in 2013.
Aliyev, 53, came to power in 2003 following an election seen as flawed by international observers.
He took over after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled newly independent Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
