Watchdog

The lawyer for a recently executed Iranian activist has criticized the country's judiciary for its treatment of political cases, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Khalil Bahramian represented Kurdish teacher Farzad Kamangar, who was hanged along with four other prisoners at dawn on May 9.

Kamangar was sentenced to death following a February 2008 trial lasting only seven minutes. He repeatedly denied prosecutors' allegations of involvement with a Kurdish nationalist group, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).

But his attorney, Bahramian, told Radio Farda via phone from Tehran on May 9 that Kamangar was not a member of the PJAK. He claims that even Kamangar's state interrogator came to the conclusion that he had not worked with the banned group.

Bahramian told Radio Farda that Iran's judiciary is currently run by radicals. He also said the country's courts act arbitrarily.

"While nonpolitical cases are examined by five-judge [panels], political [cases] -- which are concerned with a person's thoughts, existence, and
integrity -- are examined by one judge, who even lacks sufficient judicial knowledge," he said. "It is [this judge] who decides a person's life or death."

Iran's judiciary is divided into two branches, the public courts and the revolutionary courts. The revolutionary courts handle political and security
cases.

Kamangar and the other four other prisoners were sentenced to death by a revolutionary court. Another client of Bahramian, 29-year-old activist Shirin Alam-Holi, was also among those hanged on May 9.

Bahramian says that according to Iran's Constitution, political and media-related offenses should be tried openly in the presence of a jury. But he
said this procedure is not being followed.

Bahramian said a gross violation of procedure took place shortly before Kamangar's execution. He told Radio Farda he also was not notified in advance of his client's execution.

"I went to the General-Prosecutor's Office to see what had happened to my appeal request, but I was told that they had not received [Kamangar's] case yet," Bahramian said.

But the death sentence was still carried out. It is not uncommon in Iran for lawyers not to be informed of their clients' impending execution.

A group of bloggers and rights activists have picketed the Russian Embassy in Yerevan to urge Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to seek the release of an Armenian-born journalist jailed in Moldova's Transdniester region, RFE/RL's Armenian and Moldovan services report.

Ernest Vardanean, a 33-year-old stringer for the news agency Novy Region 2, is accused of spying for Moldova and could be sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in prison if found guilty.

The Moldovan government, the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have urged authorities in the breakaway region of Transdniester to release Vardanean from detention and ensure he receives a fair trial.

Numerous human rights and journalists' associations, including Reporters Without Borders, have also condemned his arrest.

"I consider [Vardanean's] arrest a blatant violation of freedom of speech," said Mikael Danielian, the chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association, at the Yerevan protest.

The protesters gave embassy officials a letter to Medvedev urging him to use Moscow's strong influence on Transdniestrian authorities to ensure they respect due process in the case. Russia has troops stationed in Transdniester.

The journalist's wife, Irina, also appealed to Medvedev earlier this month. She told RFE/RL on May 3 that intervention by Moscow is the best hope for resolving her husband's case.

The Transdniester region -- which is mainly populated by ethnic Russians and Ukrainians -- broke away from Moldova in 1990 and has been de facto independent since the end of a short war against Moldovan forces in 1992. Its independence is not recognized by any countries.