23:54, 28 April 2014

Rights defender Leila Yunus and her husband detained in Baku

Leila Yunus, the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy. Photo by Aziz Karimov for the "Caucasian Knot"

On Monday evening, power forces detained at departure by air from Baku Leila Yunus, the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband Arif Yunus, a conflictologist. This was reported by Mekhman Aliev, the director of the "Turan" News Agency, who saw the spouses off.

On April 28, the Yunus spouses were about to fly from Baku to Doha. Via the Qatari capital, they planned to reach Paris and later Brussels aiming to take part in an international event. At the border checkpoint Leila Yunus and her husband were told that their departure was banned, Aliev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The lawyer Khalid Bagirov has suggested that the detention of the spouses has to do with the criminal case against the journalist Rauf Mirkadyrov.

In his turn, Arif Yunus said by phone that he and his wife were surrounded by agents of the Ministry of National Security, the General Prosecutor's Office and airport securities.

The Institute for Peace and Democracy headed by Leila Yunus is engaged, since 1995, in the defence of civil and political rights.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent