Human rights defender Leyla Yunus sentenced to 8.5 years imprisonment

Leading Azerbaijani Human rights defender Leyla Yunus sentenced to 8.5 years in prison, her husband, historian Arif Yunus received 7 years imprisonment.

The journalists and public figures are saying that the both human rights activists are in serious state.

According to an interview given to BBC Russian Service byTatyana Lokshina, a head of the Human Rights Watch Russian Branch, who has been in the court in Baku, despite serious condition of the accused, the authorities were in very hurry to complete this process as soon as possible.

“You stand in this stuffy courtroom and see how the two men, who are very serious ill, are sitting in the glass cage. In actually they are not sitting. Leyla Yunus sits and her husband Arif cannot even sit, he is literally on her knees. It is clear that they do not hear even their sentence”, – told Lokshina to bbcrussian.com.

“This is not only a travesty of justice, but over humanity also. They are just punished for their human rights activity”, – says the human rights defender.

According to Human Rights Watch, two of the three lawyers of Leyla Yunus were removed from her defence ‘in result of disciplinary punishment and illegal judicial prosecution’ brought against them.

One of them deprived lawyer’s license, other one is waiting for a court examination.   

Leyla Yunus, being in custody about one year, suffers from diabetes and hepatitis C. Human rights activists and diplomats are in worry about it, and especially due to the rumors about the fact that she was deprived a medical aid in prison. Her husband condition, who is also in prison from the past year, causes the concerns of human rights activists. 

This post is also available in: Russian