KABUL, Oct 22 (KUNA) -- A military court in Afghanistan sentenced a communist-era chief of the Afghan spy agency to 19 years imprisonment on Wednesday. Asadullah Sarwari, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail by a court in Kabul about a year back, had lodged an appeal against his punishment with the military court. Sarwari was accused of ordering the killing of thousands of people following the communist revolution in Afghanistan in 1978.
In its decision, the court observed that on the basis of proofs and accounts from witnesses, the court found Sarwari involved in the deaths of thousands of innocent people and ordered 19 years imprisonment. During the communist era, hundreds of thousands of people were brutally killed by the then regime for being its opponents. While some people were shot dead, others were buried alive. Some mass graves recently unearthed in the central capital Kabul and some other provinces of Afghanistan showed the brutalities committed during the 80s in that country.
The court, in its today's decision, allow the convict the right to lodge an appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision. (end) gk.tg KUNA 221738 Oct 08NNNN