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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) made a joint statement by which they called on the Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Leyla Yunus and provide urgently adequate medical care, reads the statement that is published on the FIDH site.

As the statement notes the Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about acts of violence in prison against Ms. Leyla Yunus. According to the information received, on September 6, 2014, Leyla Yunus was attacked by her cellmate who verbally harassed her and threw plates and dishes at her. Leyla Yunus started knocking at the door in order to call for help and when the staff from the prison arrived she reported the attack and asked to see the prison administration. Next day reprimand was issued against her for knocking at the door without any reason and creating unrest inside the cell.

The authors of the joint statement of FIDH and OMCT demand to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Leyla Yunus, Mr. Arif Yunusov and all the human rights defenders in Azerbaijan; transfer Dr Yunus’s violent cellmate to another cell and conduct an immediate, thorough, transparent investigation into the above-mentioned assault, Immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif Yunusov from pre-trial detention, as well as all the other arbitrarily arrested human rights defenders, since their detentions are arbitrary and only aim at sanctioning their human rights activities and to put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial and investigatory levels - against Ms. Leyla Yunus, Mr. Arif Yunusov, and more generally against all human rights defenders in Azerbaijan.

Human rights activist Leyla Yunus was arrested on 30 July in her house yard. She was charged with state treason, tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, falsification of documents and large-scale fraud. Charges of state treason and large-scale fraud were also brought against her husband Arif Yunusov. Based on these charges the court arrested Yunus for three months.