Press Release: Trial against Ms. Leyla and Mr. Arif Yunus to open after a year in custody

Paris-Geneva, July 10, 2015 – On July 13, 2015,the trial of Ms. Leyla and Mr. Arif Yunus will open before the BakuAdministrative-Economical Court. After almost a year in detention, where theyhave been denied the medical treatment they desperately require, they will facecharges such as “large-scale fraud”, “forgery”, “tax evasion” and “illegalbusiness.” The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders urges the authorities in Azerbaijan to immediately andunconditionally release them.

Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of theInstitute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) and a member of OMCT General Assembly,and Mr. Arif Yunusov, Chief of IPD's department of conflictology, werearrested as part of a large crackdown targeting human rights defenders andcivil society which began in the summer of 2014. In addition to the chargeslisted above, they are also facing charges of “state treason” that will beexamined in a separate process at a later stage. The Observatory recalls thathuman rights defenders Mr. Intigam Aliyev and Mr. Rasul Jafarov are currentlyserving a 7.5 and 6.5-year prison sentence respectively on very similar andequally spurious charges of tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse ofpower.

“Theabysmal record of the judiciary in Azerbaijan sadly shows that there isabsolutely no chance that the Yunus couple will benefit from a fair andimpartial trial”,said FIDH President, Karim Lahidji.

“This iswhy we call once again for the authorities in Azerbaijan to immediately andunconditionally release our colleague Leyla and her husband Arif, as well asall human rights defenders currently detained for their work”, added OMCTSecretary General, Gerald Staberock.

Since they were first detained,Ms. Leyla and Mr. Arif Yunus have suffered from serious health conditions andbeen denied the appropriate medical care. Ms. Leyla Yunus has lost 16 kilogramssince her arrest and is struggling with the consequences of an enlarged liver.She also has a severe case of diabetes, however her special dietary needs havebeen denied. Finally, while she has been assaulted on several occasions by hercell-mate, no measures have been taken by the penitentiary authorities toensure her physical integrity.

Mr. Arif Yunusov, who washospitalised for a pre-stroke condition shortly before his arrest, suffers fromhigh blood pressure. He is being held at the Investigative Prison of theMinistry of National Security, the only remaining prison in Azerbaijan which isnot under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. This situation puts himat high risk of being tortured and ill-treated. The extreme levels of isolationand the absence of a proper medical unit in this prison has been denounced byvarious international human rights bodies, such as the UN Committee AgainstTorture (CAT) and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective ofthis programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repressionagainst human rights defenders.

The Press Release is also available in Russian: Azerbaijan_2015.07.10_Press_Release_RUSSIAN

For more information, please contact :

• FIDH : Lucie Kroening (French / English / German / Arabic) - Tel: +33 6 48 05 91 57 (Paris) / Arthur Manet (French / English / Spanish) - Tel: +33 6 72 28 42 94 (Paris)
• OMCT : Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui (French / English / Spanish) - Tel: +41 22 809 49 39 (Geneva)