Defence of Yunus spouses hoped for their acquittal

Advocates of Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus have positively assessed the abolition of their clients' prison sentences. However, the advocates are not satisfied with the fact that the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) has not pronounced the verdict of not guilty.

Leyla Yunus, the Director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD) and her husband Arif Yunus were accused of economic crimes and treason. On August 13, Leyla Yunus, was sentenced to 8.5 years of imprisonment, and Arif Yunus – to 7 years in prison. The spouses denied their guilt and declared the political nature of their case. The verdict was appealed against.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 9, the Baku Court of Appeal (BCA) commuted the sentences for the Yunus spouses and replaced the actual terms of imprisonment with conditional sentences.

When commenting on the decision of the BCA, Elchin Sadygov, an advocate of the Yunus spouses, has expressed his satisfaction with the abolition of the sentence in the form of imprisonment.

"Of course, the release of Leyla Yunus from custody and the abolition of the imprisonment for the spouses are a positive result. However, we believe that they should have been fully acquitted. After consultations with the spouses themselves, we will decide whether we will file an appeal to the Supreme Court," Elchin Sadygov has noted.

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