-I am very pleased that Arif has been allowed to return to his home, and hope he now will get the rest and care he is in so much need of. His wife Leyla should immediately follow him home, as her health is also very weak. While noting that the criminal case against Arif is still ongoing, I once again ask that all the spurious charges against him, as well as against Leyla, now will finally be dropped, says secretary general in the Norwegian Helsinki Committee Bjørn Engesland.
Baku Court of Appeal has today considered the appeal of Leyla Yunus, the imprisoned director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and his husband Arif Yunus.
The letter of Main Medical Department of the Penitentiary Service to the court was read at the hearing presided over by judge Vugar Mammadov. The letter says that Geman experts examined Arif Yunus. According to the results of the examination, his blood pressure is too high.
Following this, Yunus’ lawyer Afgan Mammadov addressed the hearing. He filed a petition on commuting the pre-trial detention on A.Yunus.
The public prosecutor asked the court to reject the petition. The court upheld the petition and passed a decision on commuting the pre-trial detention to house arrest. After this, Yunus was released under house arrest.
The hearing will be continued.
A criminal case was launched against her under articles #274 (treason), 178.3.2 (fraud with causing damage in the large size), 192.2.2 (illegal business with extraction of income in the large size), 213.2.2 (tax evasion with causing damage in large amount), 320.1 (Fake of certificate or other official document giving the rights or releasing from duties, with a view of its use or selling of such document, as well as manufacturing in same purposes or selling of counterfeit state awards of the Azerbaijan Republic, stamps, seals, forms) and 320.2 (use of obviously counterfeit documents provided in article 320.1) of the Criminal Code.
Both convicts’ cases of treason (Article #274) will be considered separately. The current criminal case submitted to court is associated with swindle and other cases.
On August 13, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Leyla Yunus to 8 years and 6 months in prison and her husband, Arif Yunus, to 7 years in prison. The verdict also included the seizure of their property and transferring of the funds in their bank accounts into the state account.