16:24, 13 August 2015

Yunus spouses sentenced to long terms

The Azerbaijani rights defender Leyla Yunus has been sentenced to 8.5 years of imprisonment; her husband Arif Yunus has received 7 years in prison from the court. The guilty verdict was handed down despite the appeals of international human rights organizations, which demanded to release the spouses.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Leyla Yunus, the Director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD), and her husband Arif Yunus, a political analyst, were accused of economic crimes and treason. Both completely denied their guilt. Their prosecution was harshly criticized by the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, George Soros, the Chairman of the "Open Society" Foundation, and US senators.

The court in Baku found the Yunus spouses guilty on all charges, their advocate Elchin Gambarov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the advocate, during the announcement of the verdict, the health state of both defendants was very poor. Arif Yunus, who fainted at today's session, "was lying almost unconscious," Gambarov said, adding that the verdict to the spouse would be surely appealed against.

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

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent