Azerbaijan prosecutes a prominent human rights defender on absurd charges

(Civil Rights Defenders)

"Ms. Yunus is director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku, a human rights organization. --- For years, Ms. Yunus has spoken out loudly about human rights abuses in Azerbaijan. The response of the country’s strongman ruler, Mr. Aliyev, has been to emulate President Vladimir Putin of Russia, gradually turning the screws on critics through arrests and repressive legislation that narrowed the space for civil society to survive"










The Washington Post: "Azerbaijan prosecutes a prominent human rights defender on absurd charges."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/azerbaijan-prosecutes-a-prominent-human-rights-defender-on-absurd-charges/2014/08/13/2971c430-2254-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html?hpid=z3
"WHEN AN autocrat who is intolerant of dissent begins to see spies and traitors around, it is a good time to be alert. Now is such a moment in Azerbaijan, the oil-rich but liberty-starved former Soviet republic in Central Asia. The regime of President Ilham Aliyev has imprisoned one of the country’s most outspoken advocates for human rights, Leyla Yunus, and her husband, Arif, a historian. The charges: treason, fraud, tax evasion and illegal business activities. --- Ms. Yunus is director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku, a human rights organization. --- For years, Ms. Yunus has spoken out loudly about human rights abuses in Azerbaijan. The response of the country’s strongman ruler, Mr. Aliyev, has been to emulate President Vladimir Putin of Russia, gradually turning the screws on critics through arrests and repressive legislation that narrowed the space for civil society to survive"



Civil Rights Defenders: "Open letter on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan"
http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/news/open-letter-on-the-human-rights-situation-in-azerbaijan/
"Civil Rights Defenders wish to express our deepest concern over the recent arrests of at least four human rights defenders: Rasul Jafarov, Intigam Aliyev, Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif Yunusov. We view these arrests as one more sign of the deteriorating human rights situation in your country. Azerbaijan is party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of association. Therefore, we call on you to immediately release all four of these human rights defenders."



Photo: Kerstin L.