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Charges Against Leyla Yunus are Trumped Up: Amnesty International

The treason charges against Leyla and Arif Yunus are trumped up and are part of a process of on-going harassment against them in connection with Leyla Yunus’s activism, believes Amnesty International.

“Leyla Yunus is yet another independent voice in Azerbaijan who, for a long time, the government has tried to silence through threats and intimidation. Failing to achieve this, they have now resorted to trumped up charges and detention in order to punish her for criticizing the government,” said Natalia Nozadze, Amnesty International’s researcher on Azerbaijan. 

The persecution of human rights activists continues unabated in Azerbaijan, in spite of the obligations the country committed to as a member of Council of Europe and currently a chair of its decision making body, the Committee of Ministers, Amnesty International said today.   

Today’s detention is yet another example of the unrelenting suppression of critical voices that is a regular feature of life in the country. Members of the Council of Europe must challenge the Azerbaijani authorities for flouting the principles of the human rights body which Azerbaijan is chairing at the moment,” said Nozadze.

Amnesty International currently counts at least 19 prisoners of conscience behind bars solely for peacefully expressing their views.

Note, on July 30, a Baku court placed Leyla Yunus under a three-month pre-trial detention and Arif Yunus with travel restrictions. According to media reports, authorities charged Leyla and Arif Yunus with treason and other charges related to fraud and tax evasion. According to the spouses' attorney, the couple deny all charges against them. 

Leyla Yunus has repeatedly said that the persecution against her is tied to the desire of the country's authorities to "expose a group of Armenian spies". She has been repeatedly questioned in the case of Azerbaijani Russian-language newspaper Zerkalo reporter Rauf Mirkadirov, who has been in custody for more than 3 months on charges of "collaborating with Armenia's secret police".