BAKU — Prominent Azerbaijani human right activist Leyla Yunus has been charged with treason, fraud and tax evasion. Charges were brought against her husband Yusuf, too.

Yunus’s lawyer Xalid Bagirov told RFE/RL that officers of the Prosecutor General’s investigative directorate for serious crimes had detained his client near her house and brought her to the office by force on July 30.

A fierce critic of Azerbaijan’s poor rights record, Yunus is head of one of Azerbaijan’s leading rights groups, the Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku.

Yunus has been actively involved for years in people-to-people diplomacy with Armenian rights activists advocating the reconciliation of the two countries. She has won several foreign prizes and honours for her work.

In April, Azerbaijani authorities prevented Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus from leaving the country, saying Leyla Yunus had been summoned as a witness in a probe against journalist Rauf Mirkadirov, who had been arrested for alleged spying for Armenia.

Prosecutor General’s office said later that Leyla Yunus avoids cooperating with investigators.

Any display of dissent in Azerbaijan is usually met with a tough government response. Rights groups say the government has been clamping down on opponents since President Ilham Aliyev’s re-election last year.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the latest updates from MassisPost.

You May Also Like

Armenia to Aquire Russian ‘Long-Range’ Weapons

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia will spend a $200 million loan provided by…

French Ambassador to Armenia Says Talks on Karabakh Should be Resumed and Its Status Determined

YEREVAN (Arka.am) — France’s Ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte called for resumption…

Yezidis Won’t Return if Demographic Change Continues: Armenian Academic

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Rudaw.net) – Erbil, Baghdad, and the international community must…

SDHP Participates in Wreath Laying Ceremony at Montebello Genocide Monument

A special Wreath laying ceremony and requiem service was held on Saturday…