Developments in the ongoing trial against Leyla and Arif Yunus

New information

AZE 002 / 0414 / OBS 031.9

Arbitrarydetention / Judicial harassment /

Deteriorationof health while in detention

Hurdles totrial observers

Azerbaijan

August 10,2015

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for HumanRights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Azerbaijan.

Newinformation:

The Observatory has beeninformed by its trial observer, present in Baku to monitor the hearing, aboutthe new developments in the ongoing trial against Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD)and a member of OMCT General Assembly, and Mr. Arif Yunusov, husband ofMs. Yunus and Head of the Conflictology Department of IPD.

According to the informationreceived, as was the case during the last hearings, only a few internationalindependent observers were admitted in the courtroom, and namely today only theGerman, United States and United Kingdom embassies' representatives, as well asthe Observatory observer (without interpreter). However, several seats wereempty inside the courtroom, which indicates a clear political will of violatingonce again the principles of transparency and publicity of judicialproceedings.

According to our trialobserver, both Ms. and Mr. Yunus looked extremely ill, and Mr. Yunus wasaccompanied by a doctor in the courtroom and had to take some medicines whilesitting in the glass cage during the hearing.

Today’s hearing wasinterrupted after only 15 minutes, after Ms. Yunus refused to be further helpedby two Azeri to Russian interpreters provided by the court who translated hertestimony incorrectly on two occasions. Ms. Yunus is not Azeri speaker, andtherefore needs interpretation from and to Russian.

Due to this translationissue, the trial was adjourned to August 13, 2015.

At the end of the hearing,one of Ms. Yunus’s lawyers, Mr. Ramiz Mammadov, told to our observer that inhis opinion, the sentence in the Yunus case could be announced soon, probablyat the end of this week. It has to be recalled that the Prosecutor requested respectively 11 and 9 years of jailfor Ms. and Mr. Yunus on August 6, 2015[1].

Lawyer Ramiz Mammadov addedthat this trial did not comply neither with ‡international nor with nationalfair trial standards.

The Observatory urges theAzeri authorities to immediately release Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov onhumanitarian grounds, in view of their deteriorating health, and change theirdetention into house arrest as a first step to dropping all charges againstthem, as their detention is only aimed at sanctioning their activities amidst awave of ongoing repression against civil society organisations andrepresentatives in Azerbaijan.

The Observatory moregenerally calls on the international community to strongly condemn the seriousviolations of the principles of transparency and publicity of court hearings,and to urge the Azeri authorities to facilitate the observation of the trial byjournalists as well as by local and international trial observers.

Backgroundinformation:

Ms. Leyla Yunushas long fought for human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities in hercountry. She has been heading the IPD since 1995. In October 2014, Ms. LeylaYunus was awarded the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and was among thethree finalists for the Sakharov Prize. She also received the distinction of“Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” from the French governmentin 2013. She has worked on numerous projects relating to human rights,political persecution, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based issues andviolations of the right to property. Ms. Yunus and Messrs. Intigam Aliyev and Rasul Jafarov were all members of a groupcompiling a list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

With her husband,Ms. Yunus has also worked towards reconciliation between Azerbaijan andArmenia, two countries divided on the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.Ms. Leyla Yunus has been involved since 2005 in the “Track II Diplomacy”Initiative, and initiated the project of a dialogue between Azeri andArmenians, developed jointly with a regional research centre in Armenia. Ms.Yunus is detained since July 30, 2014. Mr. Yunusov is in prison since August 5,2014.

On April 28, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunus was reportedlyinvited as a witness on the criminal case against journalist RaufMirqadirov, columnist and press correspondent in Turkey for the independentnewspaper Zerkalo, to the Investigation Department of Serious Crimesof the Office of Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan. In the evening,however, Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov were detained at the Baku Heydar Aliyevairports. The authorities seized their luggages, conducted a search withoutpresenting them any court order, confiscated their passports and seized alaptop, a video camera, USB flash drives and paper records, whiledenying Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov the right to see their lawyer. Mr.Yunusov was hospitalised for a pre-stroke condition.

On April 29, 2014, after being kept awake the whole night and denied accessto toilets, Ms. Yunus was interrogated in relation tothe case against journalist Rauf Mirqadirov[2].

Ms. Yunus’ questioning lasted nine hours, andquestions all focused on joint projects between the IPD and Armenian NGOs, aswell as on her relations with journalist Rauf Mirqadirov. Following thisquestioning, IPD’s premises were searched and authorities seized all thecomputers and books belonging to Mr. Yunusov, along with printed documents,including the business card of an Armenian historian. Shortly after, IPD’s bankaccounts were frozen. Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov were released.

On July 30, 2014, Ms. Yunus was arrested again by thethe Prosecutor’s office employees on charges of “treason” (Article 274 of theCriminal Code), “large-scale fraud” (Article (178.3.2), “forgery” (Article320), “tax evasion” (Article 213), and “illegal business” (Article 192) andbrought to the department of grave crimes of the General Prosecutor’s Office,where she had to undergo a six-hour questioning. Informed by telephone, herhusband joined her at the department of grave crimes of the GeneralProsecutor’s Office, where he was also questioned. Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusovwere both charged, and then placed in pre-trial detention. Mr. Yunusov waslater placed under house arrest, and arrested again on August 5, for violationof his conditional sentence. Since that date, Mr. Arif Yunusov has been held atthe Investigative Prison of the Ministry of NationalSecurity, the only remaining prison in Azerbaijan which is not subordinated tothe Ministry of Justice. This situation puts him at a high risk of facingtorture and ill treatment and the absence of a proper medical unit in thisprison has been denounced by various international human rights bodies such asthe UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) or the European Committee for thePrevention of Torture (CPT).

Following international criticism over the conditionsof detentions, the Azeri authorities agreed for Ms. Yunus to be examined onvarious occasions since December 2014 by a German doctor, Christian Witt, whoseofficial results have not been made public so far. Ms. Yunus’ lawyer, whovisited her on February 8, reported that she was preoccupied over the lack ofinformation about the doctor’s diagnosis, that she was suffering from sightproblems, and that she was continuing to lose weight. Ms. Yunus, who waspreviously denied access to medication by the prison authorities, allegedlylost 16 kilograms since her arrest.

On October 18, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunus wastransferred to the Investigative Prison of the Ministry of NationalSecurity. Ms. Yunus was held there until October 24, date on which she wastransferred to Kurdakhani prison.

On September 6, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunus's cell-matewho had previously verbally harassed her and thrown plates and dishes at her,assaulted Ms. Leyla Yunus. Ms. Leyla Yunus called for help and when the stafffrom the prison arrived she reported the attack and asked to see the prisonadministration. She wrote three pages explaining the event and the previousacts of harassment conducted by her cell-mate. Moreover, she also asked formedicine since she was feeling unwell after the attack but her demand wasunattended. On September 7, 2014, she was brought before Major Yagubov whoannounced her that a reprimand had been issued against her for knocking at thedoor without any reason and creating unrest inside the cell. No measure hasbeen taken to either punish the cell-mate nor to ensure the protection of Ms.Leyla Yunus.

Ms. Leyla Yunus was later deprived of her lawyer,Mr. Javad Javadov, following his criticism of the judicial process againstMs. Leyla Yunus at an hearing on October 24, 2014. A few days later,her second lawyer, Mr. Khalid Bagirov, was also removed from the case.Moreover, her third lawyer, Mr. Alaif Hasanov, has been subjected toa lawsuit by Ms. Nuriya Huseynova - cellmate of Leyla Yunus – whoaccused him of passing information to the media. Mr. Alaif Hasanov was thefirst one to speak out about the condition and physicalpressure against Ms. Leyla Yunus via her cell-mate.

On January 5, 2015 and February 2, 2015, the ECtHRcommunicated on two applications filed for violations of the rights of Ms.Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov .

On February 18, 2015, the pre-trial detention ofMs.Yunus was extended until July 28, 2015, and on February 23, 2015, the pre-trial detention of Mr. Yunusov was extendedto August 5, 2015.

On July 15, 2015, a pre-trialhearing was held at the Baku Grave Crimes Court. The hearing was scheduled forJuly 13 but it was cancelled without any official explanation just as it wassupposed to get starting. Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov were placed in a glasscourtroom cage and the interpreter they needed (they are Russian-speakingpersons and the hearing was held in Azeri) sat near the cage.

The lawyer of Ms. Leyla Yunusfiled three petitions. Firstly, the lawyer asked the judge to authorise theaccused to sit beside her lawyer so as to ensure the right to be presumedinnocent until proven guilty and to fully guarantee the right to be assisted bya lawyer. Secondly, the lawyer requested permission to videotape and/or recordall the hearings following the principle of publicity of debates. Thirdly, becauseof the worrying health condition of Ms. Yunus, the lawyer requested to changethe current measure of imprisonment for a house arrest, as provided by Article9.3 of the United Nations International Covenant for Civil andPolitical Rights.

During the hearing, thelawyers of Ms. Yunus argued that her continued detention was life threatening. Ms.Yunus, who suffers from diabetes and hepatitis C, is in a critical conditionand suffers from a medical condition known as hepatomegaly- a liver enlargement and deterioration. In order tostop the process of degradation of the liver she is under heavy medication. TheObservatory reiterated that its medical condition is not compatible with prisonconditions and urged the authorities to opt for alternatives to pre-trialdetention.

During the court hearingpause, Ms. Yunus denounced to the international observers present in the courtroom that she had been subjected to ill-treatment on four occasions during herdetention. More particularly, she complained that, on June 20, 2015, she hadbeen hit in the left eye area.

In addition, the lawyer ofMr. Arif Yunusov filed a petition requesting the authorisation for the accusedto sit beside his lawyer and for all charges against him to be dropped in the absenceof evidence of guilt. The lawyer denounced the poor conditions of imprisonment at the Investigative prisonof the Ministry of National Security, whereMr. Arif Yunusov, whosuffers from insomnia high blood pressure, is being detained.

The prosecutor asked the courtto reject all five petitions, and the judges did so after short deliberation.

On July 27 and 28, 2015, thetrial on the merits started at the Baku Grave Crimes Court, presided by judgeMr. Afgan Hajiyev. The Obervatory mandated anobserver to both hearings. Thepre-trial hearing had been held on July 15. Ms. Yunus is accused of large scalefraud (Article 178.3.2), fake manufacturing or selling of official documents(Articles 320.1 and 320.2), large scale tax evasion (Article 213.2.2) andillegal business with extraction of income in large size (Article 192.2.1),while Mr. Yunusov is accused of large-scale fraud (Article 178.3.2).

On July 27, around 25 localand international observers and journalists were not allowed into thecourtroom, including the observer of the Observatory, a number of diplomats, aswell as journalists from the BBC just to mention some, because by the time themain entrance was opened, the room was already almost full of persons whom somelocal activists and journalists identified as court staff and staff from theMinistry of National Security. Moreover, the trial was held in the smallestcourtroom, although some of the larger ones were empty at the time. TheObservatory is extremely concerned by this manoeuvres that only aim at limitingthe due transparency and publicity of judicial examination, in a case that isat the spotlight of the international community. The Observatory recalls thatsimilar limitations have recently taken place in the trials against otheremblematic human rights defenders, such as the first hearing in the case ofinvestigative journalist Ms. Khadija Ismayilova, as well as the appealhearings against Mr. Rasul Jafarov.

At the start of the July-27hearing, the defence drew the judge's attention to the fact that journalists,activists and diplomats were not let into the room. Moreover, lawyer AfghanMammadov petitioned to change the measure of restraint for Mr. Arif Yunusov,but the prosecutor, Mr. Farid Naghiyev, opposed.

Subsequently, the indictmentwas read, and both Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov pleaded not guilty. Ms. Yunusstated that the indictment is completely falsified and criticised the despotismand repression in Azerbaijan.

Then the witnesses testified.The head of a department in the City Hall, Mr. Zulfali Ismayilov alleged thatthe house of the Yunus couple down the Sh. Badalbeyli street was legallydemolished in 2011, and that they carried away documents and computers. Inresponse, Ms. Yunus pointed to a decision of the Supreme Court that indicatedthat property had been destroyed in the course of the demolition, which wasalso confirmed by one of the witnesses to the hearing. Moreover, Mr. Yunusovpointed out that on August 25, 2011, the Mayor's office sent a warning todemolish the house, but the house had already been demolished on August 11. Mr.Yunusov added that he was only able to save one computer and two books becausea bulldozer began the demolition and did not allow him to save other documents.

Subsequently, witnessTahmasib Novruzov said that since 1988, he suspected Ms. Leyla Yunus of havinglinks with Armenians, and that he was later informed that she was working forthe intelligence of Armenia. When the defence asked about the source of thatinformation, the witness replied that he knew that from the press. When askedwho had called him to the court as a witness, Mr. Novruzov could not answer thequestion.

On July 28, 2015, similarrestrictions to international observers took place and again only four of themwere allowed into the courtroom. At around 10.20 am Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr.Arif Yunusov were placed together in a glass courtroom cage and the interpreterthey needed sat near the cage.

During the July-28 hearing,various witnesses testified and declared that they had neither suffered anyviolation of their rights nor any loss because of the activities of Ms. Yunus.The prosecution asked various questions about Ms. Leyla Yunus's work withArmenian organisations, which seems to illustrate the political motivationsaround the case. The prosecutor also accused, without evidence, Ms. Yunus ofreceiving a grant of 700,000 manat (approximately 610,000 euros) and onlytransferring 76,000 (approximately 61,000 euros) to the account of the NGO"Society of Women of the Caucasus for Peace and Democracy". Finally,the defence asked for the ex-wife of journalist Mr. Rauf Mirqadirov to be excluded from the list of witnesses, sinceher testimony had no relation with the merits of the charges being pressed, butthe court did not consider the petition.

During the hearing of August3, 2015, the Azeri authorities strongly restricted access to the courtroom forinternational independent observers. Unlike previous hearings, norepresentative of the independent press was allowed into the room. In addition,international observers such as representatives of the United States and theEuropean Union embassies experienced several difficulties before they wereallowed in, while their accompanying interpreters were denied access to thecourtroom, thereby undermining their monitoring presence inside the room, inviolation of the principle of transparency and publicity of judicialproceedings.

In addition, shortly afterthe beginning of the hearing, an ambulance was called in order to provide firstaid healthcare to Mr. Yunusov, who fainted due to a worryingly high arterialpressure. Around 11.50, Mr. Yunusov regained consciousness. It must be recalledthat Mr. Yunusov already underwent two hypertensive crises during his arrestand the search of his apartment (see background information).

The hearing was adjourned toAugust 4, 2015. However, according to the lawyer Afghan Mammadov, the doctor ofthe National Security prison who came to the court during the episode todayreportedly said that Mr. Yunusov health did not allow him to furtherparticipate in the trial.

Actionrequested:

Please write to theauthorities in Azerbaijan, urging them to:

i. Immediately release Ms.Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov on humanitarian grounds as a first step totheir unconditional release, since their detention is arbitrary and only aim atsanctioning their human rights activities

ii. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Leyla Yunus, Mr.Arif Yunusov and all the human rights defenders in Azerbaijan;

iii. Guarantee the principlesof transparency and publicity of court proceedings by taking all appropriatemeasures to ensure that all journalists and local and international observersare able to monitor the trial of Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov as wellas the trials of all human rights defenders in the country;

iv. Put an end to all formsof harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr.Arif Yunusov as well as of all human rights defenders in the country;

v. Carry out a prompt,effective and independent investigations into the allegations of ill-treatmentagainst Ms. Leyla Yunus;

vi. Conform with theprovisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially:

- Article 1, which statesthat “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, topromote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights andfundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;

- Article 5, whichunderscores the right of every individual to form, join, and participate innon-governmental organizations; and

- Article 12.2, whichprovides that the State shall “take all necessary measures to ensure theprotection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and inassociation with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de factoor de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as aconsequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his or her rights”;

vii. Ensure in allcircumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith international human rights standards and international instrumentsratified by Azerbaijan.

Addresses:

•Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Office of thePresident of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 19 Istiqlaliyyat St., Baku AZ1066,Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12 492 06 25, (+994) 412 92 28 68, E-mail:office@pa.gov.az, office@apparat.gov.az

•Mr. Zakir Garalov, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan,Prosecutor’s Office, 7 Nigar Rafibeyli St., Baku, Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12492 06 82, (+994) 12 492 26 63, E-mail: z.qaralov@prosecutor.gov.az,info@prosecutor.gov.az

•Mr. Eldar Mahmudov, Minister of National Security, Ministry of NationalSecurity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Parliament Avenue 14, Baku AZ1006,Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12 493-76-22, E-mail: cpr@mns.gov.az

•Mr. Ramil Usubov, Minister of Internal Affairs, Ministry of InternalAffairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Fax: (+994) 12 492 45 90

•Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of ForeignAffairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, E-mail: katiblik@mfa.gov.az

•Mr. Fikrat F. Mammadov, Minister of Justice in Azerbaijan, InshaatchilarProspekti, 1 Baku, Azerbaijan, e-mail: contact@justice.gov.az; Fax (+994) 12430 09 81

•H.E. Mr. Murad N. Najafbayli, Ambassador, Permanent Mission ofAzerbaijan to the United Nations in Geneva, Route des Fayards 237, CH-1290Versoix, Switzerland, Fax: (+41) 22 901 18 44, E-mail:geneva@mission.mfa.gov.az

•Embassy of Azerbaijan in Brussels, Avenue Moliere 464, 1050 Brussels,Belgium, Fax: (+32) 2 345 91 85

Please also write to thediplomatic missions or embassies of Azerbaijan in your respective country aswell as to the EU diplomatic missions or embassies in Azerbaijan.

[1] See the Observatory’s Press Release ofAugust 7, 2015.

[2] Mr. Mirqadirov, whose pressaccreditation was withdrawn with no official reason, had been extradited theday before from Turkey to Azerbaijan and arrested upon his arrival in Baku. Hewas then placed in detention on charges of spying for Armenia.