Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office warns Leyla Yunus about possible arrest for failure to appear before investigator

Prosecutors accuse the human rights activist Leyla Yunus of evading the inquiry and warn her about criminal responsibility and possible arrest. In her turn, Ms Yunus blames the Prosecutor's Office for violating her rights and explains her refusal to appear before the investigator by confiscation of foreign passports from her and her husband, and documents on ownership of their apartment.

"On May 29, in the morning, I received a call from Ibragim Lemberanskiy, an investigator for especially important cases, who invited me to come to the Office in two hours. I told him that I would come, provided our illegally seized passports were returned," Leyla Yunus told reporters.

On the same day, the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan issued a message stating that "an evasion to testify, forcing others to give false testimonies, as well as obstructing the investigation" may entail criminal liability with lodging a petition to the court about arresting the infringer.

In his turn, the lawyer Khalid Bagirov, answering the question of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on how reasonable the attraction of a witness to criminal responsibility for non-appearance before the investigator is, said that "only a forced delivery (reconduction) can be in question."

According to the lawyer, he believes that "the threats to bring Yunus to criminal liability and to arrest her" are legally untenable.

See earlier reports: Azerbaijani law enforcers ignore the demand to return foreign passport to Leyla Yunus, says the lawyer, EU is concerned about increased pressure on Azerbaijani activists, Law enforcers confiscated printed materials when searching Leyla Yunus' flat in Baku.