davidbe bergman joins us live from the capital. it's good to have you with us. given the kwikdz we just mentioned of another bmp party member last week, given the convictions for six leaders of another opposition party, is the sentencing a surprise at all? how is it being received there? >> reporter: what is interesting, of course, about this verdict is it wasn't a death penalty. he's an 82-year-old man now in a wheelchair. he's the only one of the accused who had previously been on bail and was put in detention a few days before his judgment. he was not given a death penalty but life imprisonment until his death, so that's a significant decision by the tribunal. i think if he had been given a death penalty, there would have been much more significant protests by the opposition party. i mean, it has to be said that there are people who are very much demanding that even alim in his wheelchair should receive a death penalty, but at the moment the response is quite mute. >> there's claims by opposition figures and human rights groups that this tribunal falls short