Life of arrested Azerbaijani rights defender Leyla Yunus is under threat, advocate says

On December 3, the lawyer Ramiz Mamedov was unable to meet his client Leyla Yunus, who is kept in SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 of Baku and expressed fears that her health has worsened; and there is threat to her life.

On November 22, Leyla's advocates reported a sharp deterioration of her health; however, on November 24, the Penitentiary Service refuted the advocates' statement.

According to Mamedov, at the end of last week he sent a petition to the investigating authority on holding a forensic examination of Leyla Yunus' condition for a further recourse to the court with a demand release her under home arrest because of her serious illness.

"The threat to Leyla's life is quite real," doctor Azad Isazade, a friend of the Yunus family, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He suggests that her hepatitis C virus could intensify; and liver cirrhosis could have started.

According to his story, Leyla said that they "want to break her down and force off the track" of her human rights activities.

Earlier, Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed his concern about Leyla's health condition.

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