KABUL (Pajhwok): The appellant court in Kabul has sentenced a number of former Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) commissioners to two and a half years in jail each.
Earlier, the IEC and IECC commissioners had been sentenced to five years in jail each by the primary court.
The accused, including two former IECC heads, were charged with changing the result forms of the October Wolesi Jirga elections from eastern Kunar province and mismanagement of the affairs.They were sentenced to five years in jail each by the Anti-Corruption Justice Center (ACJC).
In line with a presidential decree, President Ghani last year dismissed IEC and IECC commissioners and the Attorney General Office placed their names on the Exist Control List (ECL).
Abdul Aziz Aryayi, former IECC chief, Abdul BasirFaiz and HumairaHaqmal, former IECC members, Abdul Baday Sayyad, former IECC head, MaazullahDawlati, QaderQuraishi, RafillahBaidar, SayedHafizullahHashemi, Maleha Hassan, and WasimaBadghesi, former IEC members, have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison each.
The ACJC appellant court today announced its verdict regarding the accused IEC and IECC commissioners.
The court sentenced Abdul Aziz Aryayi, former IECC chief, Abdul BasirFaiz and HumairaHaqmal, former IECC members, Abdul BadaySayyad, former IECC head, MaazullahDawlati, QaderQuraishi, RafillahBaidar, SayedHafizullahHashemi, Maleha Hassan, and WasimaBadghesi, former IEC members to two and a half years in prison each.
Judged Anisa Rasouli announced the verdict and said the court awarded two and a half years jail terms to each accused commissioners.
The court did not say anything about WasemaBadghis, who had escaped the country and is currently living in Turkey.
The Ministry of Interior has said Badghis location in Turkey had been identified and talks with the government of Turkey were underway to bring her back.
Defence Lawyer Abdul Raziq Haidari termed the court verdict as unjust and politically motivated.
He said: “Former Commissioners have invalidated votes of four polling stations in Kunar province which belonged to Saleh Mohammad Saleh. The invalidation of votes is not a crime and it was legal authority of commissioners.”
He said Saleh bought votes of men and women and there were evidence that the National Directorate of Security supported their argument and these votes were invalidated because they were fraud.
But Prosecutor FereshtaAzami said documents proved that former commissioners had illegally invalidated Saleh’s votes therefore they had committed crime.
Nh/ma
