OPHRD launches campaign in support of Yunus spouses

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD) intends to obtain for human rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus, a political analyst and historian, the permission to leave Azerbaijan for medical treatment abroad. An advocate of the Yunus spouses has prepared an appeal to the Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan to challenge the refusal from leaving the country.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 11, the court in Baku refused to issue for the Yunus spouses the permission to leave the country for medical treatment abroad. On March 11, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), which is a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has disseminated a petition in defence of the Yunus spouses. It calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately put an end to the prosecution against the Yunus spouses.

On its website, the OPHRD has expressed its regret about the court's decision to refuse the Yunus spouses from leaving abroad for medical treatment, which poses a serious risk of their physical integrity.

According to the OPHRD, Arif Yunus suffers from hypertension and Leyla Yunus from hepatitis, diabetes, pancreatitis and gallstones, which worsened after her arrest. Both spouses need urgent surgical intervention.

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