Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus is arrested by employees of Prosecutor General Office
Azerbaijani human rights activist and director of the NGO "Institute for Peace and Democracy" Leyla Yunus was arrested nest her house by the officers of the General Prosecutor's Office, reports Azerbaijani news portal "Haqqin.az", citing its own sources.
"In the nearest future the Prosecutor General will announce its official statement about her arrest," informs the site.
In his turn husband of the human rights activist, expert Arif Yunusov informed the news agency "Turan" that Leyla Yunus was out of the house and was going to a press conference.
"The car which she was driving has been attacked just in the yard. The car was stopped, and three men in civil entered the car. Neither Mrs. Leyla, nor the driver respond to the calls. Apparently these were the officers of the Prosecutor General's Office," Arif Yunusov reported.
He also stated that there are six people knocking on his door and threatening to break the metal door down.
Public defender Yusif Agayev said that he could not get through to Ibrahim Lemberansky investigator to find out the reason for detention.
Yesterday Leyla Yunus had stated that her family is under open surveillance. In particular, she said that a day before, in the afternoon two athletic men appeared in the courtyard of her house in “Niva”. One of the men was in the car all the time and the second one was in the yard. They were openly accompanying her husband Arif Yunusov, when the latter was heading to the grocery store.
Arif Yunusov later informed the Azerbaijani agency "Turan” that three other cars also entered the yard with men in civilian clothes. He suggested that something was to happen.
Famous Azerbaijani human rights defender Leyla Yunus and her husband conflictologist Arif Yunus were detained on 28 April at Baku’s airport, as they prepared to board a flight to Doha. They were planning to fly to Paris and then to Brussels as they were invited by the EU for participating at an international event. Leyla Yunus was summoned to an interrogation to the department of grave crimes investigation of the General Prosecutor's office where she spent 9 hours. Her husband Mr. Yunus, who was detained together with her, was hospitalized in a pre-stroke condition. Also, officials searched the couple’s home and the office of IPD.
The Human rights commissioner at the Council of Europe Nils Muižnieks, the EU, the US State Department, the US Embassy in Azerbaijan and human rights organizations such as the Norwegian Helsinki committee, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have all condemned the arrest of Leyla Yunus in Baku.
Last week, Yunus announced about the campaign of boycotting the European Games to be held in Baku in 2015. She stated that it would be unacceptable to conduct such activities in a country where human rights are violated and hatred against their neighbors is promoted.