"The Nobel Women's Initiative" calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release Yunus spouses

Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), and her husband Arif Yunus, a conflictologist, who are accused in Azerbaijan of treason, should be released from custody, "The Nobel Women's Initiative" states. The organization calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to contribute to the release of the spouses.

"The Nobel Women's Initiative" expresses its concern over the deterioration of the health status of Leyla Yunus. According to the organization, officials from the Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan delay transfer of medicines for her and refuse to allow the human rights defender to be hospitalized.

The criminal proceedings against the Yunus spouses became one more case of pressure on civil society in Azerbaijan, and they also prove the growing trend of prosecution of female human rights defenders around the world, states the appeal of "The Nobel Women's Initiative".

In his turn, Djavad Djavadly, an advocate of the Yunus spouses, has reported that since the Yunus spouses have no other family members in the country, their friends are engaged in obtaining the permission for transfer of dietary food products and medicines for the detainees; however, the problem still remains unresolved.

The Yunus spouses could avoid detention if they agreed to give their testimonies to investigators, said Elin Suleimanov, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States, in a letter sent to the newspaper "Washington Post", which also reported on the political motives of the criminal proceedings against the human rights defenders.

Let us remind you that the Yunus spouses refused to testify in protest against the confiscation of their foreign passports and documents to their apartment.