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Azerbaijani human rights defender Leyla Yunus came to the French embassy on Monday, May 12, to meet President François Hollande who came to Baku. The meeting took place in the absence of the cameras, according to Turan Azerbaijani news agency, Le Monde French edition reports.

“I said that I’m still at large and not in the prison due to the meeting with him. All my friends are behind the bars. It was important to tell the president that an authoritarian and criminal regime has been created in our country,” the human rights defender said.

According to her, the consequences of Ukrainian crisis are felt in Azerbaijan as well. The fall of the former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was a shock for the ruling elite of Azerbaijan where from 2005 on political action is not allowed. When international attention is concentrated on Ukraine, the repressions against the opposition in Azerbaijan have increased, Yunus noted.

According to the article, on April 15 Leyla Yunus published the list of “130 political prisoners” in the website of the Institute for Peace and Democracy NGO, the head of which she has been since 1995. Four days later, journalist Rauf Mirkadirov was arrested in Baku. He is held in a high security prison, he doesn’t have an access to lawyer, and he will be judged in secretive trial for the “espionage” for Armenia. “They tried to reach me through Mirkadirov,” Yunus said.

Her intuition didn’t disappoint her, Le Monde notes, on April 28 Leyla Yunus was detained in the Baku Airport with her husband Arif Yunus, when they traveled to the conference in Brussels. Their passports were confiscated, their house was searched, bank accounts were frozen, while her husband became stressed and was immediately taken to the hospital.

“The current situation here is worse than in the Soviet times,” Yunus said. According to her, after the departure of the French delegation, she can be detained at any moment. The article as well reads that a year ago in the French embassy in Baku Leyla Yunus was awarded Legion of Honor. At the ceremony one of the diplomats said that she is “canonical opposition”, whose “lonely struggle” for the protection of human rights dates back to 1980s.

Note that in the evening of April 28 in the airport of Baku while departing to Doha famous Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus and her husband conflictologist Arif Yunus were detained. They intended to fly to Paris, then to Brussels by the invitation of EU to participate in an international event. Leyla Yunus was taken to the Department of Grave Crimes of Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office for questioning, where she spent 9 hours. Her husband who was detained with her was hospitalized in pre-infarction condition. Search of Yunus’ apartment and IPD office was conducted.

Note that Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Nils Muiznieks, U.S. State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan and human rights organizations, such as the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and the International Federation of Human Rights Organizations (FIDH) have condemned the detention of human rights activist Leyla Yunus in Baku.

Earlier in Baku the journalist of Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo Rauf Mirkadirov was arrested. He was accused of conducting espionage for Armenia.