In Azerbaijan, SIZO administration reprimands rights defender Leyla Yunus

The administration of the Baku SIZO No. 1 (pre-trial prison) has accused rights defender Leyla Yunus of arranging too high volume on the TV set and given an admonition to her. The arrested rights defender reports on one more provocation and complains about continuing pressure from her cellmate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Leyla Yunus was detained on July 30 in Baku and charged, together with her husband Arif Yunus, under several articles, including treason. Her advocate informed that the human rights defender complained about ill-treatment by her cellmate and a wardress of the SIZO.

"At 2:20-2:25 p.m. of October 1, my cellmate Nuriya Guseinova attacked me. I was watching TV, and she suddenly started to cry out that the TV volume was too high. However, that was not true. Nuriya Guseinova jumped up and began to scream and use swears. She threatened to throw mud at me. I rushed to the door and knocked. They opened the door almost instantly. I asked a warder ... to protect me from the attack," writes Leyla Yunus in her appeal, which was disseminated by her advocates on October 3.

According to the rights defender, 20-25 minutes later, warders began to accompany Nuriya Guseinova and all the other prisoners in turn for conversations with SIZO officials. In the morning of October 2, the rights defender was given an admonition for the fact that at 2:20 p.m. on October 1, she allegedly arranged too high volume when watching TV. "Thus, they continue to use Nuriya Guseinova to torture me," Leyla Yunus writes in her appeal.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.