Trial against Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunusov: Fainting of Mr. Yunusov and hurdles to trial observers
New information
AZE 002 / 0414 / OBS 031.8
Arbitrary detention /Judicial harassment /
Deterioration ofhealth while in detention
Hurdles to trialobservers
Azerbaijan
August 3, 2015
The Observatory forthe Protection 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.
New information:
The Observatory hasbeen informed about the new developments in the ongoing trial against Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institutefor Peace and Democracy (IPD) and a member of OMCT General Assembly, and Mr. ArifYunusov, husband of Ms. Yunus and Head of the Conflictology Department ofIPD.
During the hearing ofAugust 3, 2015, the Azeri authorities strongly restricted access to thecourtroom for international 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, shortlyafter the beginning of the hearing, an ambulance was called in order to providefirst aid healthcare to Mr. Yunusov, who fainted due to a worryingly higharterial pressure. Around 11.50, Mr. Yunusov regained consciousness. It must berecalled that Mr. Yunusov already underwent two hypertensive crises during hisarrest and the search of his apartment (see background information).
The hearing wasadjourned to August 4, 2015. However, according to the lawyer Afghan Mammadov,the doctor of the National Security prison who came to the court during theepisode today reportedly said that Mr. Yunusov health did not allow him tofurther participate in the trial.
The Observatory urgesthe Azeri authorities to immediately put an end to the detention of Ms. Yunusand Mr. Yunusov on humanitarian grounds in view of their deteriorating health,and change it into house arrest as a first step to dropping all charges againstthem, as their detention seems to only aim at sanctioning their activitiesamidst a wave of ongoing repression against civil society organisations andrepresentatives in Azerbaijan.
Finally, theObservatory calls on the international community to strongly condemn theserious violations of the principles of transparency and publicity of courthearings, and to urge the Azeri authorities to facilitate the observation ofthe trial by journalists as well as by local and international trial observers.
Background information:
Ms. LeylaYunus has long fought for human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities inher country. She has been heading the IPD since 1995. In October 2014, Ms.Leyla Yunus was awarded the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and wasamong the three finalists for the Sakharov Prize. She also received thedistinction of “Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” from theFrench government in 2013. She has worked on numerous projects relating tohuman rights, political persecution, corruption, human trafficking,gender-based issues and violations of the right to property. Ms. Yunus andMessrs. Intigam Aliyev and RasulJafarov were all members of a group compiling a list of political prisoners inAzerbaijan.
With herhusband, Ms. Yunus has also worked towards reconciliation between Azerbaijanand Armenia, two countries divided on the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakhregion. Ms. Leyla Yunus has been involved since 2005 in the “Track IIDiplomacy” Initiative, and initiated the project of a dialogue between Azeriand Armenians, developed jointly with a regional research centre in Armenia.Ms. Yunus is detained since July 30, 2014. Mr. Yunusov is in prison sinceAugust 5, 2014.
On April28, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunus was reportedly invited as a witness on thecriminal case against journalist Rauf Mirqadirov, columnist andpress correspondent in Turkey for the independent newspaper Zerkalo, to theInvestigation Department of Serious Crimes of the Office ofProsecutor General of Azerbaijan. In the evening, however, Ms. Yunus andMr. Yunusov were detained at the Baku Heydar Aliyev airports. The authoritiesseized their luggages, conducted a search without presenting them anycourt order, confiscated their passports and seized a laptop, a videocamera, USB flash drives and paper records, while denying Ms. Yunusand Mr. Yunusov the right to see their lawyer. Mr. Yunusov was hospitalisedfor a pre-stroke condition.
On April29, 2014, after being kept awake the whole night and denied accessto toilets, Ms. Yunus was interrogated in relation tothe case against journalist Rauf Mirqadirov[1].
Ms.Yunus’ questioning lasted nine hours, and questions all focused on jointprojects between the IPD and Armenian NGOs, as well as on her relations withjournalist Rauf Mirqadirov. Following this questioning, IPD’s premises weresearched and authorities seized all the computers and books belonging to Mr.Yunusov, along with printed documents, including the business card of anArmenian historian. Shortly after, IPD’s bank accounts were frozen. Ms. Yunusand Mr. Yunusov were released.
On July 30, 2014, Ms. Yunus was arrestedagain by the the Prosecutor’s office employees on charges of “treason” (Article274 of the Criminal Code), “large-scale fraud” (Article (178.3.2), “forgery”(Article 320), “tax evasion” (Article 213), and “illegal business” (Article192) and brought to the department of grave crimes of the General Prosecutor’sOffice, where she had to undergo a six-hour questioning. Informed by telephone,her husband 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 theconditions of detentions, the Azeri authorities agreed for Ms. Yunus to beexamined on various occasions since December 2014 by a German doctor, ChristianWitt, whose official results have not been made public so far. Ms. Yunus’lawyer, who visited her on February 8, reported that she was preoccupied overthe lack of information about the doctor’s diagnosis, that she was sufferingfrom sight problems, and that she was continuing to lose weight. Ms. Yunus, whowas previously denied access to medication by the prison authorities, allegedlylost 16 kilograms since her arrest.
On October 18, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunuswas transferred 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.
OnSeptember 6, 2014, Ms. Leyla Yunus's cell-mate who had previously verballyharassed her and thrown plates and dishes at her, assaulted Ms. Leyla Yunus.Ms. Leyla Yunus called for help and when the staff from the prison arrived shereported the attack and asked to see the prison administration. She wrote threepages explaining the event and the previous acts of harassment conducted by hercell-mate. Moreover, she also asked for medicine since she was feeling unwellafter the attack but her demand was unattended. On September 7, 2014, she wasbrought before Major Yagubov who announced her that a reprimand had been issuedagainst her for knocking at the door without any reason and creating unrestinside the cell. No measure has been taken to either punish the cell-mate norto ensure the protection of Ms. Leyla Yunus.
Ms. Leyla Yunus was later deprived ofher lawyer, Mr. Javad Javadov, following his criticism of the judicialprocess against Ms. Leyla Yunus at an hearing on October 24, 2014.A few days later, her second lawyer, Mr. Khalid Bagirov, was alsoremoved from the case. Moreover, her third lawyer, Mr.Alaif Hasanov, has been subjected to a lawsuit by Ms.Nuriya Huseynova - cellmate of Leyla Yunus – who accused him of passinginformation to the media. Mr. Alaif Hasanov was the first one to speakout about the condition and physical pressure against Ms. Leyla Yunusvia her cell-mate.
OnJanuary 5, 2015 and February 2, 2015, the ECtHR communicated on twoapplications filed for violations of the rights of Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. ArifYunusov .
OnFebruary 18, 2015, the pre-trial detention of Ms.Yunus was extended until July28, 2015, and on February 23, 2015, thepre-trial detention of Mr. Yunusov was extended to August 5, 2015.
On July 15, 2015, apre-trial hearing was held at the Baku Grave Crimes Court. The hearing wasscheduled for July 13 but it was cancelled without any official explanationjust as it was supposed to get starting. Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov were placedin a glass courtroom cage and the interpreter they needed (they areRussian-speaking persons and the hearing was held in Azeri) sat near the cage.
The lawyer of Ms.Leyla Yunus filed three petitions. Firstly, the lawyer asked the judge toauthorise the accused to sit beside her lawyer so as to ensure the right to bepresumed innocent until proven guilty and to fully guarantee the right to beassisted by a lawyer. Secondly, the lawyer requested permission to videotapeand/or record all the hearings following the principle of publicity of debates.Thirdly, because of the worrying health condition of Ms. Yunus, the lawyerrequested to change the current measure of imprisonment for a house arrest, asprovided by Article 9.3 of the United NationsInternational Covenant for Civil and Political Rights.
During the hearing,the lawyers of Ms. Yunus argued that her continued detention was lifethreatening. Ms. Yunus, who suffers from diabetes and hepatitis C,is in a critical condition and suffers from a medical conditionknown as hepatomegaly - a liver enlargement and deterioration. In order to stop the process of degradation of the liver she is underheavy medication. The Observatory reiterated that its medical condition is notcompatible with prison conditions and urged the authorities to opt foralternatives to pre-trial detention.
During thecourt hearing pause, Ms. Yunus denounced to the international observers presentin the court room that she had been subjected to ill-treatment on fouroccasions during her detention. More particularly, she complained that, on June20, 2015, she had been hit in the left eye area.
In addition, thelawyer of Mr. Arif Yunusov filed a petition requesting the authorisation forthe accused to sit beside his lawyer and for all charges against him to be droppedin the absence of evidence of guilt. The lawyer denounced the poorconditions of imprisonment at the Investigative prison of the Ministry ofNational Security, whereMr. Arif Yunusov, who suffers from insomnia high blood pressure, is being detained.
The prosecutor askedthe court to reject all five petitions, and the judges did so after shortdeliberation.
On July 27 and 28,2015, the trial on the merits started at the Baku Grave Crimes Court, presidedby judge Mr. Afgan Hajiyev. The Obervatory mandated an observer to both hearings. The pre-trial hearing had been held on July 15. Ms.Yunus is accused of large scale fraud (Article 178.3.2), fake manufacturing orselling of official documents (Articles 320.1 and 320.2), large scale taxevasion (Article 213.2.2) and illegal business with extraction of income inlarge size (Article 192.2.1), while Mr. Yunusov is accused of large-scale fraud(Article 178.3.2).
On July 27, around 25local and 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 theJuly-27 hearing, the defence drew the judge's attention to the fact thatjournalists, activists and diplomats were not let into the room. Moreover,lawyer Afghan Mammadov petitioned to change the measure of restraint for Mr.Arif Yunusov, but the prosecutor, Mr. Farid Naghiyev, opposed.
Subsequently, theindictment was read, and both Ms. Yunus and Mr. Yunusov pleaded not guilty. Ms.Yunus stated that the indictment is completely falsified and criticised thedespotism and repression in Azerbaijan.
Then the witnessestestified. The head of a department in the City Hall, Mr. Zulfali Ismayilovalleged that the house of the Yunus couple down the Sh. Badalbeyli street waslegally demolished in 2011, and that they carried away documents and computers.In response, Ms. Yunus pointed to a decision of the Supreme Court thatindicated that property had been destroyed in the course of the demolition,which was also confirmed by one of the witnesses to the hearing. Moreover, Mr.Yunusov pointed out that on August 25, 2011, the Mayor's office sent a warningto demolish 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 booksbecause a bulldozer began the demolition and did not allow him to save otherdocuments.
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,similar restrictions to international observers took place and again only fourof them were allowed into the courtroom. At around 10.20 am Ms. Leyla Yunus andMr. Arif Yunusov were placed together in a glass courtroom cage and theinterpreter they needed sat near the cage.
During the July-28hearing, various witnesses testified and declared that they had neithersuffered any violation of their rights nor any loss because of the activitiesof Ms. Yunus. The prosecution asked various questions about Ms. Leyla Yunus'swork with Armenian 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.
The following hearingwas scheduled for August 3, 2015.
Action requested:
Please write to theauthorities in Azerbaijan, urging them to:
i. Immediatelyrelease Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov on humanitarian grounds as a firststep to their unconditional release, since their detention is arbitrary andonly aim at sanctioning 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 theprinciples of transparency and publicity of court proceedings by taking allappropriate measures to ensure that all journalists and local and internationalobservers are able to monitor the trial of Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusovas well as the trials of all human rights defenders in the country;
iv. Put an end to allforms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Leyla Yunusand Mr. Arif Yunusov as well as of all human rights defenders in the country;
v. Carry out aprompt, effective and independent investigations into the allegations ofill-treatment against 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, whichstates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association withothers, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of humanrights and fundamental 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 ofAzerbaijan, Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 19Istiqlaliyyat 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 Republicof Azerbaijan, Prosecutor’s Office, 7 Nigar Rafibeyli St., Baku, Azerbaijan,Fax: (+994) 12 492 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 National Security of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Parliament Avenue14, Baku AZ1006, Azerbaijan, Fax: (+994) 12 493-76-22, E-mail: cpr@mns.gov.az
• Mr. Ramil Usubov, Minister of Internal Affairs,Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijani Republic, Fax: (+994) 12 492 4590
• Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs,Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, E-mail:katiblik@mfa.gov.az
• Mr. Fikrat F. Mammadov, Minister of Justice inAzerbaijan, Inshaatchilar Prospekti, 1 Baku, Azerbaijan, e-mail:contact@justice.gov.az; Fax (+994) 12 430 09 81
• H.E. Mr. Murad N. Najafbayli, Ambassador, PermanentMission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations in Geneva, Route des Fayards 237,CH-1290 Versoix, 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 tothe diplomatic missions or embassies of Azerbaijan in your respective countryas well as to the EU diplomatic missions or embassies in Azerbaijan.
***
Geneva-Paris, August3, 2015
Kindly inform us ofany action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, anOMCT and FIDH venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defendersand aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
To contact theObservatory, call the emergency line:
• E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
• Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 80949 29
• Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 5518 80
[1] 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.