Time for justice in the case against Leyla and Arif Yunus

On October 12, the Baku Appeal Court had adjourned the caseagainst Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov toto October 15 after 15minutes, since Ms. Yunus had received the translation of the charges-sheet on the day of the session itself. Ms. Yunusis not fluent in Azeri, therefore all trial documents are being translated intoRussian.

On October 15, the trial resumed with the presence ofdiplomats, representatives of local and international human rightsorganisations and international trial observers, including one mandated by theObservatory.

At the start of the hearing, Mr. Arif Yunus was placed intoa glass cabin. Ms. Yunus was then brought into the room, and appeared veryweak. She nonetheless managed todenounce the absence of medical treatment she desperately needs, highlightingthat German doctor Christian Witt, who examined her in December 2014, hadprescribed a her a two-month treatment in jail hospital, yet she was actuallyallowed to spend only 6 days in hospital and has not received the requiredtreatments since then. She spoke emotionally, was extremely anxious andresisted guards who did not allow her to speak and tried to take her into thecabin. All the observers in the room stood up as a sign of solidarity with Ms.Yunus. The judge requested silence, and ordered an opposition leader present inthe room to be taken out.

The judge then started the hearing and approved amotion filed by defence lawyer Mr. ElchinSadiqov to postpone the hearing because he needed time to study courtprotocols and documents. The judge accepted his request and the trial wasre-scheduled to 3:00pm on October 20, 2015. The October-15 hearing thereforelasted only 7 minutes, in a noisy environment. It is worth noting that when thejudge was speaking, Ms. Yunus complained that she could not hear him from theglass cabin where she and her husband were held.

“If this was a democracywith any remote semblance of a rule of law there could be only one reasonablecourse of action: release, immediate medical treatment and the opening of aninvestigation into those who neglected their duty to care. Instead we see thecontinuation of a judicial farce in the heart of Europe. We cannot let the authoritiesgo away with this”,said OMCT Secretary General, Gerald Staberock.

“Yesterday's hearing confirms once again that the right tomedical treatment of the Yunus couple is being blatantly violated as theirhealth condition remains critical. We urge theauthorities to put an end to this unbearable situation and release themimmediately as their detention clearly aims at sanctioning their human rightsactivities”,concluded FIDH President, Karim Lahidji.

Background information

Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peaceand Democracy (IPD) and a member of OMCT General Assembly, and Mr. ArifYunusov, Chief of IPD's department of conflictology, were arrested as partof a large crackdown targeting human rights defenders and civil society which beganin the summer of 2014. Ms. Leyla Yunus was charged with “state treason”, “largescale fraud”, “illegal business” through extraction of income in large scale,“large scale tax invasion, fake manufacturing or selling of other officialdocuments” and “use of fake documents”. Mr. Arif Yunus was charged with “fraud”and “state treason”. The couple faced one year of pre-trial detention duringwhich the deterioration of their health was appalling and during which theirrequests for access to the necessary medical treatment were denied multipletimes.

The Observatory recalls that very similar and equallypolitically motivated sentences were already upheld in July 2015 after theappeal trials of human rights defenders Mr. Intigam Aliyev and Mr. RasulJafarov, who are currently serving 7.5 and 6.2 years in prison,respectively. Moreover, the appeal trial regarding the sentencing of prominentinvestigative journalist Ms. KhadijaIsmayilova to 7.5 years in prison is currently taking place in Baku, withthe first hearing held on October 15, on the same day as the Yunus couple.

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (OBS) was created in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programme isto intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders.