Iskander Hamidov was released from jail on 30 December in accordance with a presidential decree pardoning or reducing the sentences of 160 prisoners. Hamidov, chairman of the nationalist Boz Gurd party, was sentenced in September 1995 to 14 years\' imprisonment upon conviction on charges of embezzlement, abuse of his official position, and causing grievous bodily harm. He was retried at the insistence of the Council of Europe, which had designated him a political prisoner, and sentenced in July 2003 to 11 years imprisonment on the same charges. Hamidov was met by some 150 supporters when he left jail, and a motorcade of some 150 cars accompanied him first to a Muslim pilgrimage site and then to his home. (Turan)